


Dear Snow, Love Regina

by msinformed13



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Family, Fluff, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 11:21:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 44,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9321227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msinformed13/pseuds/msinformed13
Summary: Series of one shots centered on established Swan Queen through the changing relationship between Regina and Snow. '"What would you even tell her?" Emma asked. The mayor smirked against Emma's neck as she recalled the words she had been dying to tell her nemesis for the past few months, "Dear Snow, I'm fucking your daughter, Love Regina?"'





	1. Chapter 1

Emma smiled as she woke with a warm soft weight pressed against her side, a mess of brown hair was nestled under her chin. She pressed a kiss to the top of the brunette head, when the older woman didn't stir, she shifted down, kissing carefully across a smooth shoulder, up an elegant neck, along a hard jaw, to the corner of a set of now smiling lips.

Regina mumbled incoherently as she slowly regained consciousness.

"It's Sunday. Go to bed." She somehow managed to get out.

Emma laughed, normally their morning encounters went the other way- Emma begging for just another minute, and Regina forcing her to face the day. Then again, they didn't get many sleep over opportunities, "It's nine thirty, I have to get Henry from my parents."

"No." Regina said decisively, she curled herself tighter around Emma. Arms encircling the blonde's abdomen possessively while her legs tangled one around Emma's waist and the other around one of the younger woman's own legs- preventing her from moving.

The childish display would have drawn a laugh from Emma if it weren't for the fact that she and Regina had gone to bed foregoing clothing because of the activities of the previous night- now with Regina pulled tightly against her, Emma could feel every curve she had spent the night memorizing.

"Regina." She moaned, both in contentment and in warning.

"Just stay a little longer. I know a far better way to spend a Sunday morning than with your mother." Regina whispered suggestively. She released her hold on Emma's shoulders, but only to trail a teasing finger down between the valley of the younger woman's breasts. The finger circled lower until it stopped and began idly tracing patterns on Emma's hip.

The blonde let out a strangled breath at her girlfriends antics, but one look at the clock forced the decision on her, "I have to get Henry. If I don't pick him up by ten, Mary-Margaret threatened to keep him all day. You don't want that happening, do you?"

Regina growled her annoyance, but her finger didn't halt it's path of drawing on Emma's hip, "So my options are; have sex with my girlfriend, or let my son be brainwashed by an unnaturally chipper imp?"

"Come On," the blonde tried to entice, "we can take the kid to the park?"

Regina snorted at the suggestion, "And have your parents along with the entire town interrogating us on how we can be civil with one another?"

"It could ease them into the idea..." Emma trailed off.

"The idea of what, dear?"

"Of us dating."

Regina refrained from any number of depreciating things she wanted to say initially about the town learning of their relationship, and settled on, "Oh."

Emma knew it was a sensitive subject given the past differences between Regina and her parents, but she also felt it was about time to move on, "I'm pretty sure David already knows, he keeps looking at me weird. And you should have seen his face after he saw that hickey you left last week!"

The memory of how that hickey came to be brought a soft smile to the brunette's face before it morphed into a smirk, "Coming from David, a weird look could mean anything from getting stuck on a simple math problem to forgetting where the men's room is." She replied with mirth.

Emma chose to ignore the jab at her father, "I think we should tell Mary- Margaret."

This finally made Regina's finger halt it's tracing across the blonde's hip, but she remained flush against her girlfriend's side, "And the award for quickest turn off ever goes to…"

"I'm serious!" Emma laughed, the pout on the older woman's face was equal parts adorable and awe inducing, "I want to be able to walk down Main Street holding your hand, I want to kiss you in the park, I want to be with you Regina- all the time."

It was moments like this that melted the Queen's heart and she couldn't help but bend to her girlfriend's will, "Ok, it's your parents so this is your decision. Just know I will not be held responsible for any harm that befalls that woman if she comes at me first."

Emma smiled at the colloquialism that the older woman had no doubt picked up from her, "Do you really think my mother will 'come at' you?"

"With her, anything is possible."

The plan was set- they would invite Mary- Margaret and David over for the dinner they normally shared on Sunday evenings at the mansion, and then once Henry was asleep they would breach the topic.

Regina was in the kitchen for most of the afternoon. When Emma tried to make light of the situation by asking what Regina was so worried about, she had already met Emma's parents, she was banished to cleaning duty. Neither one felt ready when the time came for Emma to leave and return with her parents and Henry who thought she had been on patrol all day.

The time between Emma's departure and subsequent arrival with the whole Charming clan in tow was spent with Regina wearing a track in her office carpet from vigorous pacing. She had moved all of the nice vases from tables in the entryway and dining room in preparation of the worst from Mary- Margaret, but she still didn't feel ready. It didn't make sense to her why she was feeling so nervous, she was an Evil Queen, she had overtaken villages, commanded armies, there was no reason she should be afraid of facing Snow White and Prince Charming.

But they weren't just that, they were the parents of the woman she loved- love was a scary concept for the queen, and she sure as hell wasn't going to let tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb stand in between her and her last good shot at it.

Regina was in the middle of trying to remember the recipe of her favorite memory altering potion should the altercation go badly, when the doorbell rang. As she drew nearer to the front door, a smile graced her lips as she heard her favorite blonde engaged in a disagreement with her father through the heavy wooden door.

"I still think you should leave your sword in the car."

"I'm not going in there unarmed."

Regina heard a sigh and could almost imagine Emma roll her eyes, "What do you think you'll need it for- in case the chicken decides to come back from the dead and attack?"

Regina could sense the annoyance in her girlfriend's voice and pulled the door open before the argument could escalate.

"Good evening," She smiled, opening the door wider as Henry moved forward to hug her tightly around the middle. As the boy disappeared into the house leaving the adults in the doorway, Regina's smile turned into a smirk, "Shepard, bird-talker," she nodded at each of Emma's parents in turn, "I see the cavalry has arrived fully equipped." She said, shooting a pointed glare at the sword strapped to David's hip.

"What's it matter, feeling uncomfortable Regina?" He shot back.

"As if you could make me uncomfortable." She smirked, standing aside so the other three could enter her home.

"Dinner will be served shortly." Regina lead the way back to the dining room, with the trio trailing her.

The meal was relatively painless with Henry acting as a good buffer between Regina and the Charmings while Emma just sat and watched on quietly, trying to steele herself for the impending conversation. The scathing remarks were kept to a relative minimum, and it took everything Regina had in her to not reflexively wipe a smudge of sauce off of Emma's lip when the blonde miscalculated a bite of pasta.

Once everyone had finished eating, Regina excused herself to the kitchen to rinse off the dishes and give the Charmings a moment to talk about her amongst themselves.

"That was surprisingly pleasant." David commented as Regina disappeared into the kitchen.

Emma raised an eyebrow at 'surprisingly', but decided not to make a big deal of it.

"I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop." Mary- Margaret said, she had been looking uneasy all night, and it was honestly entertaining to the blonde.

"You should go easier on her, she's really trying." Emma couldn't help standing up for her girlfriend.

"Ex-Evil Queen honey, it's hard to trust her after the past we have." Ever the mediator, David tried to keep the peace.

"I'm going to go see if Regina needs help with the dishes." Emma decided, standing and walking briskly from the room.

The rest of the table was silent for a minute- each person too absorbed in their own thoughts.

"It wasn't something I said, was it?" Mary- Margaret was already worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. Her relationship with Emma felt like a roller coaster and she never really knew where she stood with the blonde, but they were in a strained place at the moment.

"No I don't think so." David put a reassuring hand on her arm.

"Maybe I'll just ask if those two need a hand." Mary- Margaret was already on her feet, she knew it was ridiculous but even so she didn't trust the ex- Evil Queen alone with her daughter.

"And then there were two." Henry joked, trying to brighten the mood once more.

Regina was rinsing dishes in the sink when she felt a warm, firm body press up behind hers. She sighed happily at the contact and leaned her head back onto Emma's shoulder, the blonde took advantage of the opportunity and ran her lips down the column of Regina's throat languidly.

"Emma." The brunette warned, "Your parents are in the next room."

"They're watching Henry."

Emma continued her assault on Regina's neck, convincing the older woman to abandon all pretense of washing dishes, and instead run one hand through Emma's hair to tug her closer.

"This is a bad idea, dear." Regina said sternly, though her body was conveying an entirely different message as her hips ground backwards of their own accord to press her ass flush against Emma's hips.

Emma let out a short moan at the action before spinning her girlfriend around and trapping her against the counter, "Then why does it feel so good?" The blonde was completely antagonizing Regina now.

She could see Regina's eyes darken before the older woman shot forward and connected their lips. Emma took it upon herself to deepen the kiss, sliding her tongue into Regina's mouth at the same time she slipped a leg between the brunette's thighs, forcing the tight dress Regina was wearing to begin riding up.

Emma had teased her girlfriend so much that Regina didn't think twice before rocking against the skinny jean clad leg, Emma only encouraged it by reaching back to cup her girlfriend's ass.

The blonde broke their heated kiss with a breathy moan when Regina snuck a hand up the front of her tank top and under her bra to palm one of her breasts roughly. Regina took her revenge for the earlier teasing by moving her lips to attack the younger woman's pulse point and continuing to massage the straining breast, "Do we have to go back in there and tell them?" Emma whined, relishing in the feeling of the brunette pressed tightly against her. She moved her hands to grip her girlfriend's hips so she could guide Regina's grinding actions. The older woman's skirt rose even more, exposing her perfectly toned thighs.

"That's up to you dear. I can always send your mother a letter."

"Mh," Emma moaned indulgently, rocking in unison with Regina's strong movements, "And what would you even write?"

The mayor smirked against Emma's neck as she recalled the words she had been dying to tell her nemesis for the past few months, "Dear Snow, I'm fucking your daughter, Love Regina?"

Emma's next comment was lost in the much louder cry of, "What the hell?!"

The pair tried to spring apart, but Regina's hand up the front of Emma's shirt made the attempt futile. Emma's jumping action just made the brunette cling to her tighter.

"Mom?"  
"Mary- Margaret?" Both women echoed at the same time.

The three stood in the kitchen staring at eachother, if looks could kill, surely Regina and Mary- Margaret would be dead by now. Nobody dared move a muscle until the sound of Henry and David thundering down the hallway prompted Regina and Emma to separate. Emma's bra was horribly askew, and Mary- Margaret glowered when Regina slapped the blonde's hand away to adjust it for her.

The silence was broken when Henry and David appeared in the kitchen, concern evident on both of their faces. Emma and Regina barely managed to fix themselves in time to prevent their son from seeing them in such a compromising position, however Regina's skirt was still pushed at least three inches up from where it normally fell.

"What's going on?" David asked, seeing the glares on his wife and nemesis's faces and the shock on his daughter's.

"Why don't you ask Regina? She was quite eloquent a few seconds ago." Mary- Margaret managed to splutter out.

David rose an eyebrow at the ex- Evil Queen whose mouth dropped open.

"Well?" Mary- Margaret prompted.

"Henry, go to your room." Was all that Regina could get out.

"But Mom-"

"Room now." Regina commanded. The young boy hung his head, but did as requested, he knew the look his mother was giving him, and knew better than to argue.

All four adults waited silently until they heard the door click shut, Regina and Emma silently communicating with each other until they could avoid the conversation no longer while Mary- Margaret's gaze became fixated on the exposed skin of Regina's thighs. Without needing to say a word, Regina backed up to stand beside Emma and let the blonde face her parents.

"Listen, Mom, Dad," Emma began, wringing her hands together, "We wanted to tell you together, and that's why we invited you both to this dinner. Regina and I, we're dating."

For a while, the four just stood staring at eachother. A range of emotions playing behind each person's eyes, habitually, Regina reached out and stroked soothing circles on her girlfriend's back.

The action brought Mary- Margaret out of her shocked silence, "How could you date her, Emma? She's the Evil Queen!"

"Not anymore!"

"This is entirely ridiculous, this cannot happen. I command you to not date her!" David all but yelled.

"You're not a King anymore." Regina reminded gently, "There's not a whole lot of commanding you can do in this land."

Mary- Margaret ignored both of them and zeroed in on the blonde, "I'm your mother!"

"We're the same age!" Emma yelled.

"Technically I'm twenty eight years older than you!" Mary- Margaret tried to draw herself up to her whole height.

"Technically, Regina's even older than you are!" Emma paused for a moment, "Wait, how old are you, Regina?"  
"This is so not the time for that, dear."

"Right, the point is that I'm an adult and you can't dictate who I date!" Emma said. She leaned into Regina's hold.

"She cursed you before you were born!" David tried to justify.

"Exactly, that was a long time ago!"

"Which shows just how wrong this is!" Mary- Margaret yelled.

Emma huffed and ran a hand angrily through her hair in exasperation. Regina could sense the impending explosion and stepped in, she stepped up a bit and put her hands out placatingly. David reflexively placed a hand on the hilt of the sword he had worn throughout dinner, he was expecting the fireball that so often accompanied the brunette's outstretched palms.

Regina spared him only a small glare, "David, Mary- Margaret, I know how this appears. I know in the Old World how this news would be received." She paused for a moment, thinking back to just how things were in the Old World- she didn't miss it, "I just want you to know that my intentions with Emma are good."

Mary- Margaret let out a derisive little laugh at that, glancing down at Regina's pushed up skirt again, "Really? Because that's certainly not what it sounded like a few moments ago."

The mayor quite nearly blushed at that jab, but nobody gets the upper hand on Regina Mills. She instantly made the decision to get back at Mary- Margaret, "The explicit verbiage of what you heard doesn't make it any less true," the brunette took great joy in the clear discomfort that crossed Mary- Margaret's face at the acknowledgement that Regina truly was 'fucking' her daughter, "it's just unfortunate that was the way you found out, dear."

The younger brunette's face distorted at Regina's snark, causing the ex-Evil Queen to smirk in her small victory, she knew she wouldn't win over the Charmings' approval but at least she could make Mary- Margaret as uncomfortable as possible.

Unfortunately, Emma squirmed too. She was clearly uncomfortable discussing her sex life with her parents even if she had already done so when Snow was just Mary-Margaret.

David was clueless as ever, "What did I miss?"

Regina looked like the cat that ate the canary, coming fully into her normal confidence, "Your wife's eavesdropping finally got the best of her."

"I wasn't eavesdropping!" Mary- Margaret sounded like she did as a child.

"What would you call it, dear?" Regina's smile was equal parts patronizing and smug and she moved a step forward to cross the boundary between the two parties.

The younger brunette faltered, her gaze was glued on Regina like a deer in the headlights, and finally she snapped, "For the love of all that is Holy, would you pull your skirt down, Regina?"

At this, the Ex-Queen finally did blush before realizing how high the material had risen, righting her dress quickly and shooting a glare back at her girlfriend who had the tiniest hint of a smile on her face, "Really, Emma? You couldn't have given me a bit of a warning about that?"

"I'm sorry, Gina. I didn't notice."

What Mary- Margaret and David noticed was the familiarity with which Emma pushed a bit of brown hair behind the mayor's ear, the ease with which the pet name rolled off their daughter's tongue, the predictable nose wrinkling from the brunette from such a nickname. There was no doubt, Regina and Emma were in deep.

"Fine." Mary- Margaret muttered.

"What?" Emma was sure she had heard wrong.

"I said fine. This is a horrible idea, and I don't expect it to end well, but you're my daughter Emma. I have to trust you."

A wide grin broke Emma's face as she crossed the kitchen to pull her mother into a tight hug, "Thank you." She whispered into the pixie cut.

David remained quiet, trusting in his wife's judgement.

Regina awkwardly stood beside the sink until Mary- Margaret let Emma go, "Just because I trust you doesn't mean I trust Regina." The younger brunette warned.

"I won't hurt her." Regina promised.

"You better not."


	2. Chapter 2

Regina scowled in her sleep. For a while, Emma thought the brunette just put on a face of discomfort when she awoke to guilt Emma, but now watching the older woman sleep it was clear, the distaste was a serious problem. Regina was usually the first one up so getting to watch the normally composed mayor like this with her hair mussed thickly, one strap of her satin nightgown slipping down a shoulder, and a faint snore escaping her lips, was slightly entertaining.

But Emma was stuck between a rock and a hard place, as much as she wanted to move out of the apartment she shared with her parents, and move into the mansion with Regina and Henry, she desperately didn't want to have to confront her mother with that sentiment.

Since finding out about her daughter' relationship, Mary- Margaret had been employing every passive aggressive trick in her arsenal to express her lack of approval.

With a pained groan she flopped down on her back, prompting Regina to wake up and an even deeper scowl etched itself on her face. The older woman rolled over a bit so she was pressed directly against Emma's side, the blonde was hoping for a good morning kiss, but all she got was her girlfriend's annoyed mumbling as she rubbed a knot in her lower back.

"Alright," Regina said rolling back, she couldn't fit all the way on her back because Emma's bed was a tiny twin, "if you don't move in with me by the end of the month, I'm buying you a new bed."

"I'm working on it." Emma promised. It was the same promise she had been making ever since Regina had presented her with a key to the mayoral mansion a month ago.

When Emma first brought the idea up to Mary-Margret, the small brunette just about had a conniption.

"You've been working on it for a month and a half, dear."

Emma groaned, "I know, it's just-"

"Your mother, I know."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright, dear." Regina patted her girlfriend's shoulder in reassurance, "Just give me two weeks, poor Snow will be begging you to move out."

"Regina," this wasn't the first time that this offer has been extended, "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't antagonize my mother."

The brunette merely rolled her eyes in response.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me woman!" Emma scolded playfully.

"Or what?" Regina asked, a lustful glint in her eyes.

"Or I'll have to punish you."

"Promise?"

Regina's voice was at least half a register lower and Emma's mouth ran dry at the look she was receiving. It took all of two seconds for Emma to pounce on the older woman. She pinned Regina's hands over her head, swung one leg over her lithe frame, and settled herself over the brunette's hips. The action earned her a squeak of happy surprise from Regina, a groan of protest from the springs of her old mattress, and a slight bang as the headboard made contact with the wall.

Emma was just leaning down to join their lips, when light footsteps could be heard trailing up the stairs.

They paused for a moment outside of Emma's door before there was an insistent knocking, "Breakfast will be ready soon!" Mary- Margaret yelled through the thin door.

A smirk grew on Regina's face while Emma groaned in annoyance- apparently her mother's ears were attuned perfectly to hear whenever something serious might be going on upstairs.

Emma released her girlfriend's hands and rolled off her in frustration, "So two weeks you say?"

"One and a half if you loosen your morales just a bit."

"Fine, I'm unleashing the monster. You have two weeks, do your worst." Emma assented.

The smile that lit up the brunette's face immediately made Emma regret her words, but she didn't take them back.

Before Emma could qualify the challenge, Regina was out of bed and digging through the wardrobe in the room. She seemed intent on finding something as she searched two drawers before emerging triumphant.

Throwing the two articles of clothing she had recovered down on the bed, Regina stripped off her nightgown. Emma smiled in appreciation until the smooth expanse of skin was covered by one of her own white tank tops, and a pair of tiny sleep shorts were pulled up her legs.

"Not that I don't appreciate the view, but why are you wearing my ratty old pajamas?"

Regina flipped her hair down and back up, giving it volume before lightly mussing it with her hands, "Because, if I come downstairs in your pajamas, Mary- Margaret can't ignore what we were doing. She'll probably break out in hives at the mere thought."

Though she hated to admit it, Emma was dating an evil genius. Whenever they spent the night at the Charming's place, Regina composed herself before exiting Emma's bedroom. She made sure Mary- Margaret and David only saw her in her professional business attire, hair perfect, and makeup carefully done. The contrast was sure to catch Mary- Margaret off guard. It was moments like this that Emma could see the ex-Evil Queen shine through.

This conduct went on for a week and a half during which Henry spent most nights sleeping over with Ruby, August, and random friends (Emma called in all the favors she had). Each morning, Regina would escalate her appearance, the shorts got shorter, the tank tops tighter, the hair messier, she even stooped so low as to mark Emma's neck with a vivid purple bruise.

Eventually, Regina decided she would have to up the stakes since the only reaction Mary- Margaret was giving was tight lipped smiles and cutting glares. It was a Sunday morning, and Regina had merely a few days before the two week challenge would end. Emma and Regina had been enjoying a lazy Sunday morning in bed, Mary- Margaret was downstairs cooking, and Charming was at work, Henry was spending the day with Ruby.

Soon enough, Emma left to the bathroom and make herself presentable to go downstairs, Regina knew she wouldn't get a chance like this again, so pushing away any doubt, she swung her legs out of the bed.

She shimmied out of the sleep shorts she had been wearing, pulled on a tight tank top which rode up to reveal her midriff, and padded down stairs. She was quiet enough, and stealthy enough, to make sure that Mary- Margaret didn't realize her presence.

This would be so much easier if Mary- Margaret and Emma looked anything alike. Regina thought angrily. She waited until Mary- Margaret ducked down beneath the central island before she made her move. Regina quickly snuck to the opposite side of the island and leaned against it.

She settled her elbows on the counter, and used her upper arms to push her breasts together and forward so they were nearly spilling out of the tank top, a cheshire cat grin was painted on her deep red lips.

When Mary- Margaret resurfaced, the look on her face was priceless. Her eyes widened comically, and her jaw fell open, the plate she had retrieved from the cupboard dropped and broke against the hardwood floor, "Regina!" Mary- Margaret's cheeks went first pale, and then bright red as her gaze darted down to the mayor's ample chest.

Regina, for her part, remained as she was for a couple of seconds to witness the reaction Mary- Margaret had, then she jumped back as if surprised, "Oh my goodness, Mary- Margaret! I thought you were Emma!" She cried.

The younger brunette just stood there, gaping like a dead fish as she saw the rest of Regina's outfit- or lack thereof.

"Are you alright, dear? You seem flushed." It took all of Regina's will power to paint an expression of concern on her face, instead of breaking out into a wide smile.

Before Mary- Margaret could reply, Emma appeared at the top of the stairs, "Regina? Mom?"

"Emma!" Mary- Margaret yelled back.

Regina turned and just smirked at her girlfriend and began sauntering away from the kitchen, "Sorry about that Mary- Margaret, it was my mistake." She threw over her shoulder, making sure to sway her hips excessively so the lacy panties did their job. When she reached the top of the stairs, Regina draped her arms around Emma's neck and pulled her down for a deep lingering kiss. When she broke away, the mayor lightly grasped the blonde's upper arm and lead her back to the bedroom.

Despite Regina's little show, when Emma mentioned moving out again at dinner to her parents, Mary-Margaret was still resistant to the idea.

"Well, Gina, looks like even you couldn't crack my mother." Emma teased, she was engaged in a heated make-out session with her girlfriend, but couldn't help poke fun. The two weeks would end the next morning and still Mary- Margaret refused to hold a conversation with Emma about moving out.

"I still have eight and a half hours, dear." Regina didn't admit defeat.

"What could you possibly be planning?"

The brunette cocked an eyebrow, "Henry is sleeping over at a friend's tonight, isn't he?"

"Yes."

"And your parents are down the hall?"

"Yes."

There was a brief silence during which, Regina simply rose her eyebrows suggestively, and shifted herself slightly beneath her girlfriend.

"Regina-"

Emma tried to ask, but she was cut off when the brunette leaned up to capture Emma's lips, and palm a breast lightly.

There was no question as to her intentions when one of Regina's legs came up to press tightly against Emma's core. The blonde hardly managed to stifle a moan when her hips bucked down against the leg.

The action caused the headboard to bounce off the wall, and Regina smirked to herself. The wall behind the bed was the one that was shared between Emma's room and her parents. Normally when they spent the night, Regina cast a simple boundary incantation over the room to make it sound proof and locked securely. This night, she accidentally on purpose forgot.

In the morning when Regina and Emma trailed downstairs together, Regina in her usual tight tank and stolen shorts, and Emma dressed similarly, Mary- Margaret and David were waiting for them. The couple was at the table with their expressions set, Mary-Margaret was sitting primly with a cup of coffee untouched before her, David just looked plain uncomfortable.

Regina plastered on a triumphant smile, "Lenny, Moe, are you looking for Curly?" She chuckled to herself.

David lost his hard expression momentarily for one of confusion, "Who's Curly?"

"The third stooge to complete your little gang."

Mary- Margaret placed a hand on her husband's arm to keep him from asking more questions about Regina's insult, her lips tightened just slightly when she smiled back, "Regina, Emma, have a seat. There's something we would like to discuss with you."

The women did as instructed, Regina looked regal despite her attire and messy hair, Emma was bewildered.

"Yes?" Regina asked.

David tried to regain some semblance of control, "We um- we wanted to talk to you about um. About our current living arrangements."

Regina knew she had won, but she couldn't resist twisting the knife just a bit more, "Are we inconveniencing you in any way?" Mary- Margaret grimaced at the game the older woman was playing with them.

"It's not so much an inconvenience, as it is um- well um we feel as though we can not longer live this way."

The queen put up a concerned front, "Is it something you need us to do differently?"

"No, it's more of an um-"

Mary- Margaret exploded, "Your intercourse is obscenely loud!"

Emma flushed bright red, and Regina could hold her laughter back no longer, "Really, princess? Intercourse? God it's a good thing Emma didn't grow up with you, heaven only knows how you would have even tried to give her any sort of practical knowledge if you can't use the word sex without blushing."

The brunette grew a red to rival her daughter, both from anger and embarrassment, "Thanks to you I never had the chance to raise my daughter!" David watched the back and forth helplessly.

"Thanks to you my fiancé was killed!"

"We both know that was your crazy mother's fault!"

"You have no right to call my mother crazy!"

"I can-"

Emma shot up from the table, "Mom! Regina!" She interrupted with a stern look, "Will you stop it for two seconds?"

Both women looked rightfully scolded and they sat silently, all eyes were on Emma waiting for her next move. She hadn't planned anything after getting the women to lay off each other, and the women could tell.

"So you spent god knows how long living with seven men in a tree in the forest and you can't stand two weeks with your daughter and her girlfriend?"

Mary- Margaret blanched at the title Regina had given herself, but took the bait nonetheless, "I ignored it for as long as I could, I've seen more of you, Regina than I've ever wanted to see, I tried to deal with it, but last night was the last straw! You have to move out Emma."

"What do you mean you've seen more of Regina than you've wanted?" David was quick to interject as he seemed to have finally caught up to the conversation.

"You didn't tell your husband about our little morning chat?" Mirth danced behind Regina's eyes as Mary- Margaret blushed an even deeper red.

"What little chat-"

"Not important David." Mary- Margaret interrupted, "The point is, Emma, you've got to move out."

Finally, the blonde picked her jaw up from the ground, "Yeah, alright. I'll be out by tomorrow."

"If that's all, I had better get ready to leave." Regina effectively ended the conversation by standing up and leading Emma back up the stairs. Regina knew Emma and David's eyes followed her progress in the stolen sleep shorts and she couldn't resist one last jab as she climbed the staircase, "Nobody else seems to be complaining about the view, Mary- Margaret."

Once they were in Emma's room with the door shut, the brunette whipped around with a wide smile, "I expect you home by six tonight, I'll make a celebratory dinner."

"I like the sound of that."

"You like anything involving food."

"That's not what I meant." Emma smiled down at the older woman, "Home. I'm coming home to you."

Regina couldn't resist the wide grin that split her normally stern face, "I like the sound of that too."


	3. Chapter 3

"Henry dear, stop scratching your arm, you're going to get a rash." Regina scolded without even looking away from the budget report she was examining.

"But its itchy." He whined sounding far younger than his actual twelve years.

Mary Margaret's ears seemed to be perfectly attuned to the noise because at that moment, her head poked through the entryway to the living room, "Do you already have a rash, honey?"

It took all of Regina's willpower not to roll her eyes at the overly tentative woman. It had been two weeks since Emma had finally moved into the mansion, the ease with which the blonde fit into the Mills family was both disconcerting and wonderful. Regina never realized how much she loved waking up next to Emma every morning until it became a routine.

The only downside was that Mary- Margaret had somehow found reason to visit nearly every other day. The current excuse was that she and Emma had to uphold their Sunday baking tradition. As such, she showed up at 9 AM and had kidnapped Emma to the kitchen where Regina was sure they were making more of a mess than making baked goods.

"My son does not have a rash." The older woman said, dropping the budget report on the coffee table and crouching in front of Henry.

Mary Margaret was right behind her and Regina had to consciously suppress the urge to elbow the woman.

"He could have poison ivy." Mary- Margaret said accusingly, "You let him run around the woods all the time, goodness only know what he's come in contact with."

"We both know it's your daughter who lets him run around out there all the time. Besides he doesn't have poison ivy."

"Maybe he was bitten by something."

"Like what, a rabid raccoon? My son has enough common sense to avoid such an encounter. And don't you forget that I created those woods, do you really think I would allow for something rabid to exist out there?"

Throughout the exchange, Henry remained silent and stock still, his eyes bounced between the two women before him as though he were watching a tennis match.

"I never said a raccoon!"

"Oh no, maybe it was one of your bird friends."

"That's rich Regina-"

"Enough!" Emma interrupted coming from the kitchen. She stood in the entryway with her hands on her hips and a slight frown on her face. It all contrasted quite well with the apron tied around her waist and streak of flour on her neck, "Henry, let me see your arm."

The boy gladly hopped off the couch and stood before his mother with the limb held out. Emma inspected it and her expression turned truly sour.

"You've got spots."

"Like a dalmatian?" He asked stealing back his arm back to look at his new found coloration.

"No kid, like a chicken."

"Chickens don't have spots."

Emma smiled at the boy's confusion, "No bud, but they do have pox."

"He's got chicken pox?" Mary- Margaret was quick to ask.

"I'm pretty sure. There was a nasty outbreak at one of the group homes I was at, this looks like chicken pox."

Mary- Margaret and Regina's immediate responses overlapped each other, "We should get him in an oatmeal bath for the itching."

"We? He's my son. I'll get him some antihistamines."

"Of course your first instinct is to get him full of drugs."

"Because you know so much about treating chicken pox from your vast experience as an elementary school teacher."

Mary Margaret glared at the insult, but didn't cave, "I'll call Doc."

"As if I'll let that oaf near Henry. He got his medical license from a pickaxe for goodness sakes."

Regina was halfway out of the room, heading towards the hall closet where she kept all of the over the counter meds, Mary- Margaret had her cell phone out to call the dwarf. Emma shot a pleading look at her mother before trailing Regina out into the hallway. She caught up to the brunette as she was pulling the closet door open, "Gina, honey. Talk to me for a second?"

"Your mother is going to drive me insane."

Emma laughed and wrapped her girlfriend in a loose hug, "Deep breath, I promise everything will be fine. It's just chicken pox."

"I know Henry will be fine. It's Mary- Margaret I'm not too sure about."

"I'll handle my mother, you take care of our boy."

"If you can get her to leave I'll show you how appreciative I am tonight." Regina promised with a bright light in her eyes.

"Really now?" Emma was coming to love the teasing side of the brunette that only seemed to come out when aggravated.

"Really." The mayor confirmed before leaning in tightly to Emma's body and licking up the column of her neck to clean the powdery mess baking had left.

"Now I know why they called you the Evil Queen. You're such a tease."

"I'm only a tease if I don't make good on my promise." The brunette smirked, "Now go get that woman out of our house."

"Our house?"

"Soon to be my house once again if your mother doesn't vacate the premises."

Reluctantly, Emma released the brunette who retrieved the meds she was looking for.

"You had better make good on that promise, Gina!"

"I intend to."

The week that followed was rough on Emma, Regina, and Henry. Regina in particular. She was always took off of work to look after Henry when he was sick, and the week of the Chicken Pox Epidemic- as Emma had taken to calling it- was no exception.

Each day Regina balanced calling into council meetings, preparing oatmeal baths, signing off on zoning requests, making soup, redistributing the budget, and managing dosages of medicines until finally the spotty rash cleared up.

Mary- Margaret proved to be a nuissance easily dealt with as Emma did a good job of keeping her at bay.

By the next weekend, Henry's spots crusted over, and Doctor Whale cleared him to go back to school. Regina and Emma celebrated because it gave them a chance to finally relax, they had gotten into a horrible schedule while caring for Henry, and their bodies were paying the price. The longest continuous amount of sleep either of them had gotten was four hours.

When they fell into bed together Sunday evening, the top priority on both women's minds was making up for the distance.

They began innocently cuddling, Emma wrapping her body tightly around Regina's from behind while they caught up on their days, but the gentle spooning didn't last long. Ever the instigator, Emma began running her fingers over the exposed skin between Regina's tank top and pajama pants as she lowered her lips to the brunette's shoulder. Regina smiled in appreciation, "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

The brunette rolled over and smirked wolfishly as she slung a leg over her girlfriend, captured Emma's wrists, and held them above her head, "How much have you missed me?"

Emma swallowed thickly, "A lot."

"Really?" Regina teased as she began kissing up the blonde's neck to her ear where she gently bit down on the lobe, making Emma moan loudly, "Are you going to show me how much?"

"Yes."

"Good." Regina peppered kisses all over her lover's face, gracing her cheeks, her eyelids, her forehead, but never her lips, before she pulled back with a concerned expression, "You're hot."

"You're not too bad yourself." Emma smiled, pushing up to try to capture Regina's lips.

"Not like that." The brunette evaded her girlfriend's advance and released Emma's wrists to instead hold the sheriff's face between her hands and press her lips against Emma's forehead. When she pulled back, she had a deep frown on her face, "You have a fever."

"How do you do that?" Regina ignored her girlfriend, she was already up off the bed and padding to the attached bathroom where she knew she had left the thermometer earlier that day, "Why do all mother's have all the ability to tell temperature just by putting their lips on someone's forehead?"

The brunette rolled her eyes as she emerged with the device, "It's on the test they give you before they issue you the official Mom card. Now open."

Emma begrudgingly complied and accepted the thermometer into her mouth, "I don't have chicken pox." She insisted around the device.

"Don't talk, it'll mess up the reading."

"But I don't have chicken pox."

Regina glared at her girlfriend, until she was quiet for long enough and the thermometer beeped.

"You have a fever of 100."

"I had chicken pox when I was a kid, I don't have it."

"Fine, dear, you don't have chicken pox." She pushed a bit of blonde hair back behind Emma's ear, "But you do have something."

"No. I can have something tomorrow, I feel like this is the first time I've seen you all week." Emma reached out to dry and draw the mayor back into her.

Regina was incredibly tempted to play into her childish girlfriend's hands, but the pained expression that the blonde tried to hide made the decision for her, "No, Emma Swan. You are sick. Which means bedrest, the fever isn't bad enough to go to the hospital, we'll see how you feel in the morning. If you still have a fever, you're not going to work."

"Yes doctor Mills." Emma smirked.

"You're an idiot."

"But I'm your idiot."

"For now." Regina smiled, laying the thermometer down on her nightstand and sliding beneath the covers again, curling into Emma's side once again, "You better not get me sick, Swan."

Regina was awakened under an hour later when she felt Emma jump up and sprint to the bathroom, moments later she heard the unmistakable sound of sickness and she was out of bed in a second. She found Emma kneeling in front of the toilet with a weak grin on her face, "So I guess I'm not going to work tomorrow."

Regina couldn't help but laugh as she filled a cup with water and handed it to her girlfriend to rinse her mouth with, "No, you're not."

Another part of the test one has to pass before getting their mother card had to be knowing when your child is sick. Mary- Margaret called the mayoral mansion at exactly eight on Monday morning, Henry was eating breakfast, happy about going back to school, Regina was gathering everything she needed to drop off at the office, and Emma was upstairs lying in bed trying not to puke again.

Regina groaned at the caller ID, but picked up anyway knowing it would be worse if she ignored the call, "Hello?"

"Regina, can I speak to Emma?"

"Good morning to you too, Ms. Blanchard. I had a lovely morning thanks for asking." Regina teased, making fun of the other woman's lack of decorum.

"Good morning, Regina. May I speak to Emma now?"

"Unfortunately Ms. Swan is not available at the moment, is there something I can do for you, bird talker?"

Mary- Margaret ignored what had seemed to become one of Regina's favorite names for her, "Where is Emma?"

"Upstairs. Why do you need to speak with her?" Regina could swear that Mary- Margaret knew something was up.

"She's my daughter, I can talk to her if I want."

"Indeed you can. She's in the shower right now, I'll have her call you when she get's out. Have a good day with the lollipop guild."

With that, Regina hung up and rubbed her temple. It was sure to be a long day.

"Henry, get your shoes on, I'll be back to take you to school in a few moments."

The boy did as instructed while Regina made her way upstairs to check on Emma. The blonde was lying on her back with a pillow over her face, "Emma, dear, how are you holding up?"

"Just great." Was the muffled reply she received, "I'm at a record twenty minutes without throwing up."

Regina gently sat on the edge of the bed and patted her girlfriend's head, "I'm proud of you, honey."

Emma edged the pillow down just enough to crack a glaring eye at the brunette, "It's not nice to use sarcasm against the sick."

"You're right that was mean." Regina agreed, feeling Emma's check with the back of her hand to asses the fever. Thankfully the blonde didn't feel any hotter than she had when she woke up, "I'm just going to drop Henry off at school, return some files to the office and grab whatever they've got for me today, and then I'll stop by the store to get some more of that yellow gatorade you like."

"You're leaving me when I'm pathetic and sickly?"

"You're pathetic most of the time, and I think you can survive the sickly."

Emma feigned offense as she clutched her heart, "That hurt."

"I'm sorry. There's water on the nightstand, and a bucket next to the bed if you can't make it to the bathroom." The brunette pressed a light kiss to the sheriff's forehead and stood to leave, "I'll be back in under an hour, I promise. Oh, and your mother called, I said you were in the shower, you should call her back in like twenty minutes."

"Fine."

"Don't die while I'm gone."

"No promises."


	4. Chapter 4

Regina ran her errands in record time, and was back at the mansion, arms overflowing with grocery bags and her briefcase, all in under forty minutes. She deposited the grocery bags in the kitchen, and her work in the study, taking just one of the many lemon-lime gatorades she had bought and began ascending the stairs, "Emma, dear? I bought that disgusting yellow thing you dare call a sports drink."

When there was no reply, she thought nothing of it, assuming the blonde must have fallen back to sleep so she continued on mostly to herself as she entered the bedroom, "If you can make it a whole two hours without vomiting I may let you resume what you started last night."

"Please excuse me while I go and vomit." Regina scowled as she saw it was Mary- Margaret seated on the edge of the bed with a hard expression on her face instead of her girlfriend, "You aren't exactly doing a lot to inspire confidence in your intentions with my daughter."

"My intentions are hardly of any concern to you. How did you get into my home?"

Mary- Margaret simply smiled at the apparent discomfort she was causing in the mayor, "Emma let me in."

"And where is Emma?"

"Bathroom."

Regina simply nodded, placing the gatorade on the dresser beside the door and assuming one of her favorite power stances- hand on one hip, knee bent out, shoulders thrown back, chin held high, and one eyebrow arched dangerously, she was ready for battle, "Why exactly are you here?"

"My daughter is sick." Mary- Margaret said as though it was the simplest explanation on earth.

"I am perfectly capable of taking care of my girlfriend. I've spent the past eleven years taking care of Henry."

"And you just took an entire week off of work, the town must be reeling in your absence. You can't abandon Storybrooke for Emma. I am more than willing to fill in during your absence." The sickly sweet smile on the younger woman's face made Regina's stomach churn.

"I'm perfectly able to multitask, shouldn't you be teaching munchkins or something?"

"I haven't missed a day of work in the eighteen years you've cursed us into this town. The children will be fine without me."

Regina scowled as Emma finally emerged from the bathroom. Spotting the expression on her girlfriend's face, Emma contemplated slowly backing into the en suite and hiding from the impending war. Regina had other ideas.

The brunette crossed her room quickly to stand in front of Emma, "How are you doing, dear?"

"I'm um, fine. Just a bit tired, the upside is I think I lost about twelve pounds in water weight."

Regina gave her girlfriend a stern look while running a gentle hand up and down her arm, "Not funny."

"Maybe you should lie down for a while." Mary- Margaret interjected.

"Yeah that sounds good." Emma agreed, Regina scowled at the teacher.

Mary- Margaret, however, smirked as she finally saw an opportunity to get the upper hand, "Are you sure you can stay, Regina? I would hate for you to be so over extended, you should really go in to work today."

"Ok, that's the last bit of advice I need from you, bird brain." Regina quickly rounded on the younger brunette, but her rant was cut off by Emma's gentle interjection.

"Maybe she's right, Gina. You were home all last week with Hen, and I would hate to get you sick too."

"I have an excellent immune system." Regina countered.

The blonde smiled at her girlfriend's insistence, "I refuse to be the cause of Storybrooke missing its mayor for any longer. I promise I'll be fine." Regina was unconvinced and she rose a questioning eyebrow at her girlfriend, "I promise."

"Fine." Regina finally conceded, and then turning to Mary- Margaret, "I still don't trust you."

"Likewise."

Regina left the office at four thirty on the dot to get home as quickly. She hardly got any work done all day as her mind was on Mary- Margaret at her mansion, with her girlfriend. It made her skin crawl. In addition to that, she could feel the beginnings of a sickness take root in her body. As much as she tried to deny it, Regina knew that Emma had passed on whatever was plaguing her and Regina's sleep deprived immune system wasn't equipped to handle it.

Towards the end of her time at the office, the mayor began to feel queasy and knew that when she returned home she would not be having a good night.

When she pushed open the door of her home later that day, the smell that greeted Regina made her stomach churn for a completely different reason. An instant cold sweat beaded on the back of her neck as memories rushed forth, blinding her to the present.

Flashes of a young girl whimpering in a large bed, a cold towel pressed against a flaming forehead, and a soft subdued song of reassurance.

"Regina?" The voice of her girlfriend snapped the mayor out of her little trance, "Is that you? We're in the kitchen."

The brunette stepped fully into her home and pulled the door shut behind her. Her lips curled slightly downward at the 'we' in her girlfriend's reply- Mary Margaret hadn't left yet. Pushing aside her memories, and the feeling of nausea rising in her stomach, Regina followed the voice into her kitchen.

Mary- Margaret was leaning on the central island where Emma was seated, both were nursing steaming mugs and there was a kettle on the stove- Regina's suspicions were confirmed. She ignored the rush of emotions threatening to overtake her, and instead crossed to stand beside her girlfriend, running her hand through the blonde's hair and dropping a light kiss on her forehead- pleased to note it was significantly cooler than it had been when she left for work that morning.

"How are you feeling?"

"Way better." Emma smiled, "I think it was just some twenty four hour bug or something."

"That's great, dear." Regina then looked at Mary- Margaret with hard eyes, "I suppose your services are no longer required."

When the younger brunette opened her mouth to retaliate, Emma beat her to it. Slipping an arm around Regina to tug her closer until she was standing between the blonde's knees, "She was actually really helpful today."

"Oh?" Regina felt hot and claustrophobic, she didn't know if it was from the illness Emma had passed on to her, or from the idea of Mary- Margaret being helpful in her own absence.

"Yeah, she made this magic tea thing, and I haven't thrown up since then."

A small involuntary smile tugged the corner of Regina's lips at Emma's excitement, even as she braced herself for what was to come, and set her teeth against the bile rising in her throat, "Magic tea thing huh?"

Now it was Mary- Margaret's turn to jump in, "Yes. It's not really magic though-"

"Obviously, the last time I checked, the only magic you have is true love's kiss and I would prefer if you wouldn't slobber all over the shepherd in my kitchen."

The younger brunette glared, but continued on as if she hadn't been interrupted, "It's peppermint tea with honey, lemon juice, and just a drop of vanilla. There's one more ingredient that should be in, but I can't seem to remember it." Regina's smirk became even more forced at the contents of the tea, nothing could have prepared her for what came next, "My mother used to make it for me when I was sick."

"Your mother?" The question was hardly more than a whisper.

Mary- Margaret's voice was cold when she replied, "Yes, maybe you remember her, Queen Eva."

That was the last straw, Regina pushed out of Emma's hold and sprinted in her high heels and work skirt out of the kitchen, down the hall, and to the downstairs bathroom. Mother and daughter exchanged questioning looks until a distinct retching sound drew their attention.

Emma was up in a second and moving down the hallway with Mary- Margaret hot on her tail. When Emma got to the bathroom, she dropped to her knees, rubbing soothing careful circles between the older woman's shoulder blades until Regina sat back on her heels, apparently finished. Mary- Margaret was quick with a cup of water and paper towel for the mayor to rinse and wipe.

Regina eyed the cup suspiciously and Mary- Margaret lifted an eyebrow- it was striking in that moment how much she resembled the older brunette, and that didn't slip by any of the three women.

"I'm not the one known to poison food." Was all the teacher said, and it seemed to be all Regina needed before taking a small sip, swirling it around her mouth and spitting it out into the toilet.

In that moment, she was wildly ungraceful, and not in the least regal- her hair was in an uncontrolled mane, and her blouse was half untucked. Regina tried to regain an air of control as she pushed her hair behind her ear, flushed the toilet, and allowed Emma to help her stand upright.

One look was all it took to get Mary- Margaret to back out of the bathroom leaving Regina and Emma alone. Once the door shut, Regina lost it.

A tear broke from the corner of her eye and Emma watched its progress down the plane of the face of the woman she loved, before she caught it at the brunette's chin, "Hey, Gina, honey. Talk to me, what's wrong?"

"Its nothing. My eyes tend to water when I violently empty the contents of my stomach."

Emma carefully cupped her girlfriend's cheek, forcing brown eyes to lock onto her own, "Don't do that. You can do that with my parents, you can do that with your parents, hell you can do that with the rest of the world if you want, but you can't put up your walls around me."

"Emma, I'm not-"

"I have a superpower." Emma interrupted, a small smile tugged the edges of Regina's lips as her girlfriend began one of her favorite lines, "My spidey-senses are tingling, and I know you're lying to me."

"Yes, Emma. Yes, I am lying to you. But, that's not going to change right now. Not on this, you know I wouldn't shut you out for no reason. Please, just trust that I'll tell you when I'm ready."

The conversation was deep, it was heavy, and it was suffocating Emma. She didn't do meaningful, when you're found on the side of a highway as a baby, it makes it a bit harder to form connections. So she agreed.

With a nod, she released Regina's cheek and pulled the older woman into a fierce hug, pressed a kiss to her temple.

"Alright."

Regina was the one to break apart from the hug. She smiled at her girlfriend before quickly turning and dropping to her knees and retching again.

Emma couldn't help but tease her girlfriend once she had finished and was leaning back against the adjacent wall, "So much for your extraordinarily strong immune system."

"My immune system is amazing."

"Says the woman who just lost her lunch."

"That wasn't a fault in my immune system."

"Oh?"

"It's a sympathy sick. You know, it's like when you're in pain, so am I. When you smile, so do I. When you get the stomach flu, so do I."

"Oh my goodness, are you having an emotion?" Emma laughed. Regina glared and smacked the blonde lightly on the arm, "Hey! What about that whole when I smile, you smile thing?"

They emerged from the bathroom a little while later, Mary- Margaret was in the kitchen cleaning up the mess from earlier in the day. A mug of the 'magic tea' was steaming on the counter.

Regina looked questioningly at the scene and the younger woman faltered in her scrubbing of a mug, "I just- I was um." She gestured with a soapy hand at the mug on the counter, "I made you some tea, it helped Emma so I figured…"

She trailed off before re-focusing her attention on the sink. It wasn't like Mary- Margaret to stumble over her words like this, and Regina appreciated the tea as a peace gesture so she subtly told Emma she would be fine handling Mary- Margaret, and she stepped into the kitchen alone.

Regina took up a seat at the island in the seat that Emma had occupied when she first arrived home. She needed a moment to gather her thoughts so instead of talking to Mary- Margaret, she picked up the mug, blew a little bit at the steaming top, and took a small sip.

The familiar taste burned across her tongue and slithered down her throat.

"Thank you for taking care of Emma today, Mary- Margaret."

Whether it was the gentle tone with which Regina addressed the woman, or if it was the use of Mary- Margaret's real name instead of a demeaning nickname, didn't matter- Mary- Margaret stopped her washing and turned around.

"It was my pleasure."

There was a brief silence during which Regina sipped the tea, and Mary- Margaret shifted uncomfortably by the sink.

"Thank you as well for the magic tea."

Mary- Margaret smiled in acknowledgement, "You're welcome. It's peppermint tea with lemon juice-"

"Honey, and a drop of vanilla." Regina finished for her, "I know."

The pair fell silent again, Mary- Margaret appraised the older woman questioningly while the mayor dropped her eyes to the contents of her mug.

The teacher was just about to turn back around and finish the cleaning when Regina spoke up again, "Sugar."

"Excuse me?" Regina's comment was so quiet, Mary- Margaret was sure she had misheard.

"The ingredient you're missing. It's sugar." The teacher crossed her arms in front of her chest and remained quiet, knowing better than to prompt the older woman.

Her patience was rewarded when Regina continued, "It was only ever just a pinch, and it doesn't actually do anything to help with sickness. You just always thought the tea wasn't sweet enough so I had to add the sugar to get you to drink it."

Everything fell into place in Mary- Margaret's mind, and her expression immediately fell, "Regina, I'm so sor-"

"Don't apologize." She waved a dismissive hand, "I know I wasn't a good stepmother to you. In fact, I'm still not a good stepmother, if I was, I would have let you keep thinking it was your mother's recipe for magic tea, not mine."

With surprising speed, Mary- Margaret crossed the kitchen until she was leaning on the opposite side of the island. Close enough to touch Regina's hands that were still wrapped around the mug, but she didn't.

"Regina, I-" She stopped herself, reorganizing her thoughts, "You did the best you could do."

"My best- it still wasn't very good."

The silence enveloped them again, Regina finished off her tea and stood, crossing to the sink to wash her mug.

When she was finished, she was surprised to see Mary- Margaret had closed the distance and enveloped her in a hug the moment she turned around. When she released the older woman, it took only a second for Regina to regain her composure.

"This doesn't change anything, bird talker."

The smallest smile hinted on Mary- Margaret's lips, "Of course it doesn't."


	5. Chapter 5

"You're turning thirty, that means that you're officially old." Regina teased as she pulled a bottle of salad dressing off the shelf, appraised the label on the back, before returning it.

"You do realize you're older than me, right?"

"That's irrelevant." Regina dismissed with a wave.

"How old are you anyway?" Emma asked, dutifully following her girlfriend with the shopping cart.

The brunette rounded on her with a glare, but playful mirth danced behind her eyes, "Don't you know any better than to ask a woman her age?" Before Emma could retaliate, Regina answered her own question, "Of course, you did inherit your father's bluntness."

"Ok fine. Then at least tell me when your birthday is."

Regina smiled at her girlfriend's insistence, "In a few months."

"Not a real answer."

"Fine, October 25th, happy?"

"Extremely." Emma practically had a bounce in her step, already planning what she would do for the brunette's party.

* * *

It was a few hours later when Emma found herself seated across from her mother at Granny's diner. Emma swirled a French fry in ketchup before bringing it to her mouth and chewing without really registering the taste. She was too preoccupied with her earlier encounters that day.

After her talk with Regina in the supermarket that morning, the blonde had asked everyone about the mayor's age, but nobody that Emma had asked knew how old Regina really was.

Finally she couldn't resist any longer and she interrupted Mary- Margaret in the middle of a story about her latest art project with her class, "Do you know how old Gina is."

"What?"

"Sorry, Regina." The blonde had fallen into the habit of calling her girlfriend by the nickname she despised because Emma loved the way the adorable brunette's nose wrinkled in reply.

"No, I don't know."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." Mary- Margaret looked suspiciously at her daughter who had gone back to silently devouring her fries apparently lost in herself.

It took all of thirty seconds for Emma to let her thoughts get the best of her, "Come on, Mom, how do you not know how old Regina is? You grew up with her for goodness sakes." Emma pressed. She had exhausted just about all other avenues so her mother was her last hope to figure out Regina's real age.

"This is the Evil Queen we're talking about Emma."

"Ex- Evil Queen." The blonde corrected reflexively.

"Anyway, it's not like we had a birthday cake with candles every year for her." Mary- Margaret smiled at the thought and the memories that came with it, "I remember it was a battle to even figure out when her birthday was in the first place."

"Oh?"

"It was on my birthday the second year after she had married my father that she finally gave up the date. We completely missed it the first year they were married, but once I weaseled the date out of her, I never missed one of Regina's birthdays."

Emma could see the sad smile on her mother's face as she remembered a time before the curse. It made the blonde jealous that she never had the chance to be a part of that world, but she was thankful for the life she had now.

"Well I never missed one until the first time she tried to kill me. That put a bit of a damper on our relationship."

"Mom!"

"Sorry, but it's true."

The blonde drew her bottom lip between her teeth and lightly chewed it, "So how old were you when Regina married your father?"

"About ten." Mary- Margaret could see the gears turning in her daughter's head and wanted to kick herself for not doing the math sooner.

"How old was Regina?"

"I'm not sure, probably seventeen or eighteen."

At that response Emma quirked an eyebrow at her, "Are you kidding?"

"That was the norm in the old world, people younger than her were married all the time. Unions were sometimes arranged before royal heirs were even born."

The blonde was incredulous, "Let me get this straight, at eighteen her true love was killed in front of her, then hours later she was married off to a King who was what, like 47 with a daughter who she was expected to raise?"

A frown crept across Mary- Margaret's face as she truly thought that through for the first time, "Well when you put it like that."

"There's no other way to put it!" Emma said forcefully. She wanted more than anything to be able to pace up and down, but restrained herself knowing that action would not be received well in the middle of the lunch rush at Granny's.

"She was so young." Mary- Margaret said to herself while Emma talked through the math

"So really Regina is only eight years older than you which makes her technically 36 years older than me, and so Regina's really 57."

"She is so old." The teacher scrunched her brow as she thought through the math herself, it didn't seem right but she decided not to comment on it.

Emma leveled her with a glare, "Yeah, you're technically 46." Mary- Margaret's eyebrows shot up at that, she was definitely not 46.

"How on earth did you arrive at that figure?"

The blonde rolled her eyes, "Regina cast the curse when you were 28, now 28 more years have passed with time suspended in Storybrooke which makes a grand total of 46 until your birthday rolls around in a couple of months."

Mary- Margaret smiled at her daughter's miscalculation, but decided not to comment on it. She would let Emma continue thinking that so long as it bought her a few years in the blonde's view.

"That makes sense. All the same, you probably shouldn't tell Regina, I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate your math."

* * *

Regina smiled as she finished stirring the lemonade she was preparing for Henry's play date in a couple hours. The boy resented calling them 'play dates' anymore since he was- as he liked to say 'far too old for play dates'. Regina claimed that six pre-teens running around her backyard sounded a lot like a play date to her.

Emma had been put on fence duty- there were a few places where the aged wood was separating from the post and though Regina said she could fix it with with magic, Emma insisted she wanted to take care of it. There was still a decent amount of time before Henry and his friends were dropped off by one of the other mothers in their little group, so she saw no issue in having a bit of fun with Emma.

The kitchen window had a clear view out to the yard where Regina was watching her girlfriend work. The blonde's strong shoulder muscles flexed clearly under the thin material of her tank top each time she swung the hammer to pound another nail into the wood,

and the way Emma's tool belt was tugging at her tight jeans made Regina's mouth practically water.

"Emma," the mayor called out the window, getting her girlfriend's attention, "Would you like to take a break?"

When the blonde turned around, her smile was radiant, "I suppose I can make time for that."

It was a matter of moments before Emma appeared in the back doorway, Regina noted that she had removed her tool belt, but she had not readjusted her pants so there was still a sinful amount of skin exposed between the bottom of her tank and top of the jeans.

"I made some lemonade." Regina nodded to the pitcher on the counter beside her.

"I see." Emma recognized the hungry look in her girlfriend's eyes and took pleasure in teasing her.

"Would you like a glass?"

"I would love one." Emma smiled as she came fully into the kitchen, she watched in appreciation as the brunette turned and rose slightly on her toes to grab a glass from the top cabinet. The action flexed Regina's calves, showing off all the muscles of her legs.

Emma came around the central island and leaned back against it while Regina poured out a glass of the lemonade.

The blonde accepted the glass silently before tipping it back and taking a healthy sip, watching in amusement the way Regina's eyes traced over her exposed arms.

"Thanks." Emma said as she lowered the glass, "That was just what I needed."

"Glad to help."

When Emma raised the glass to finish off her drink, a couple of drops escaped the edge of her lips. Before she could even raise a hand to wipe away the drip, Regina had invaded her space.

"Let me get that." She husked out, leaning in and licking the lemonade from Emma's chin.

Sticky drink cleaned, Regina didn't stop there. She traced her tongue lightly over Emma's bottom lip before giving into her girlfriend's involuntary whimper and kissing her fully.

Kissing Regina always brought Emma back to her youth, it reminded her of teenage love- making out in the back of crappy cars, young hands groping at anything they could find- Regina had the unique ability to make her feel incredibly young, but at the same time, feel old and wisened like as long as she had the brunette, she would have everything she could ever need.

That's how she felt now, trapped against the kitchen island as Regina stepped further into her space and pressed their bodies flush together while their tongues battle for dominance- each one like they have something to prove. One gentle bite to Emma's bottom lip was all it took for Regina to win the battle, she soothed over the flesh with loving strokes as her fingers made her intentions clear- sneaking her hands up Emma's sides and bringing the tank top up with them.

She managed to slide the thin material almost all the way up to Emma's chest before the blonde pulled away from the kiss panting slightly, "How much time do we have before Henry and his friends get here?"

"At least two hours." Regina promised. Though she had stopped inching the shirt up, her hands had not halted as she used her nails to draw nonsense circles on her girlfriend's back, making the other woman's spine tingle.

"Ok."

The mayor wanted to roll her eyes at the monosyllabic response, but she was far too focused on her current goal of divesting Emma of as much clothing as possible. Another searing kiss proved to be all the encouragement Emma needed to allow her girlfriend to finally pull the white tank over her head. She was already embarrassingly wet, then again with Regina she always was. From there, Regina wasted no time in reaching behind to unsnap Emma's bra and let that join the accumulating pile of clothing on the kitchen floor.

With the blonde's chest exposed, Regina couldn't resist but lean in and capture one straining nipple between her lips. She began sucking lightly until Emma moaned, arching her back to push herself further into her girlfriend's mouth as one of her hands came up to thread through brunette locks and encourage her on.

"Mhm." Emma hummed in appreciation, feeling herself grow impossibly wetter as Regina circled her tongue around the nipple before gently nipping it with her teeth and switching breasts to give the other one the same attention.

"Too many clothes." The blonde insisted when Regina released her other breast with a wet pop. It was with great difficulty that Emma set about unbuttoning Regina's blouse, she managed to stumble through unclasping two of the pearl buttons from the silk material before she gave up and simply ripped it open.

"Emma!"

"You can magic it later." The blonde smirked, kissing her way down Regina's neck and biting down lightly where it met her shoulder.

When Emma reached around the mayor's back to unclasp her lacy bra, she was stopped by Regina's hands and a teasing smile, "Today is about you. Think of it as an early birthday present."

Emma's birthday was in two days, and she had been using that excuse for a lot of things lately. Not that Regina let her get away with it most of the time.

She silenced any objections the blonde could even try to raise by distracting her with a kiss and busying herself with unsnapping the button of Emma's jeans. She lowered the zipper torturously slowly while sliding her tongue between Emma's lips.

Once the sheriff's jeans were entirely undone, Regina pulled back from the kiss far enough to whisper in her ear, "Take off your pants."

Regina was used to being in control, commanding armies, running towns, administrating kingdoms, and she enjoyed exercising that same control in the bedroom (or in this case the kitchen). Emma didn't think twice before shoving the offending material down her legs and kicking the pants off.

Regina paused long enough to enjoy the sight of Emma standing in her kitchen wearing only a skimpy pair of boy shorts. No matter how many times she saw Emma naked, she never got used to the view of her defined abs, muscled legs, small yet perky breasts, and decidedly feminine slender frame.

She was drawn from her appreciation by Emma's light teasing, "See anything you like, Madame Mayor?"

The brunette's eyes instantly softened as she recognized the hint of insecurity shining behind her girlfriend's own, a faint blush decorated Emma's cheeks from being studied so closely.

"As a matter of fact, yes, I do."

She ran a hand down Emma's arm and tangled their fingers together, the other hand went around the back of the blonde's neck, "I see a lot of things I like." Regina pulled Emma in for another searing kiss and let her hand slip from Emma's and land on her hip. She traced along the top edge of Emma's underwear before teasingly drawing a finger over where she knew the blonde's clit was over the thin cotton material.

The contact made Emma gasp into the mayor's mouth, and her hips involuntarily jerk forwards. Regina repeated the action, smiling into the kiss while applying more pressure.

Finally, Emma broke the kiss with a whine, "More." She commanded.

Regina smirked, her girlfriend never was extremely eloquent, less so in compromising positions such as this, "More what, dear?"

"I need more."

In response, Regina removed her hand entirely. Before Emma could protest the loss, Regina hooked her fingers in the sides of the boyshorts and tugged them down until Emma could step out of them.

The final barrier out of the way, Regina wasted no time in running a finger up the blonde's slit. Emma moaned when the mayor teasingly circled her opening, keeping her fingers from where they were needed most.

"Please?" Emma whimpered when she felt her girlfriend press lightly before going back to painfully light circles.

Instead of complying, Regina removed her fingers and pushed Emma's hips backwards, "Sit." She commanded. Emma rose an eyebrow, but she did as she was told and pulled herself up onto the kitchen island.

Regina pushed her girlfriend's knees apart, and stood between them. She leaned in to the juncture of Emma's shoulder and neck which was now at her eye level and began marking the area with her tongue and teeth. Emma's eyes fluttered shut when Regina added in rolling one of the blonde's nipples between her fingers.

"Gina?"

The mayor smiled into Emma's collarbone at the pleading in her tone, "Yes, dear?"

"Stop teasing."

Reluctantly, Regina pulled away. She waited until Emma's deep green eyes snapped up to her own before she gently knelt down between her girlfriend's thighs. She maintained eye contact with the blonde while she brought her hands, and placed them lightly on Emma's knees, rubbing her thumbs over the insides as she laid a feather soft kiss against the inside of Emma's left thigh. She took pleasure in the goosebumps raising as she kissed a path up to the apex of Emma's thighs, when she reached the top, she skipped over where Emma wanted her most and traced a path down towards her right knee.

The image of Regina kneeling on the kitchen floor between her thighs was almost enough to make Emma come undone, and that combined with all the effort her girlfriend had put into teasing her, had her embarrassingly close to the edge when Regina finally gave in and pressed her lips against Emma's aching center.

From the initial contact, it was like the damn broke, Regina slid her hands up, using her thumbs to part the blonde's outer lips as she began working her girlfriend over with enthusiasm. Alternating between quick teasing strokes, flattening her tongue to deliver long swipes all the way up Emma's slit, and pushing her tongue into the tight opening. The blonde leaned back, supporting her weight with one hand and tangling her other hand through Regina's hair to keep her in place, throughout it all, she never broke eye contact with the mayor eagerly eating her out.

When Regina felt her girlfriend getting close, she changed her pace, flattening her tongue against Emma's swollen and engorged clit, and thrusting a finger into her slick wetness. Her pace was torturously slow and Emma couldn't stop the needy way her hips moved in opposition to Regina's wrist. Regina's other hand came up to grasp tightly at Emma's hip, her nails dug into the soft flesh making the blonde hiss slightly at the pain, but it didn't deter her from shamelessly moving her center over her girlfriend's eager mouth.

"You're so wet." The brunette smiled as she felt Emma's walls gripping at her finger.

"Gina, I need-"

"What, dear?" Regina teased, unexpectedly withdrawing her finger and moving it up to circle Emma's clit.

"I need you to fuck me."

The explicit word was all it took to encourage Regina to slid her fingers back down to and enter the blonde again with two in one quick stroke.

"Yes! God, yes Regina!"

Emma's moans became steadily louder as Regina thrust harder into her girlfriend. Emma let her head drop back and she was overwhelmed with the feeling of Regina pulling almost all the way out, and sliding back in roughly. Her heels came together behind Regina's back, trapping her girlfriend in place.

"So, close-" Emma managed to pant out.

In response, Regina added another finger, sucking Emma's clit into her mouth, and circling her tongue around it. The blonde moaned, arching her back in response.

Emma tightened her finger's in the brunette's short hair, practically riding her girlfriend's mouth and fingers as she chased her release. Regina met her each step of the way, increasing the speed and pressure of her movements, thrusting into Emma to drive the blonde over the edge.

Emma came undone moments later as Regina's name was ripped from her throat.

The sheriff's legs relaxed, and her heels slipped from the brunette's back as Regina gently stroked her through the last aftershocks of her orgasm.

When Emma blinked her focus back to Regina, she saw the mayor smiling all the way in her chocolate brown eyes, "That was amazing." She laughed, "You are amazing."

Regina's mouth opened to reply, but instead of the teasing, husky reply Emma expected, the kitchen was filled with a shriek and the dull thud of something blunt hitting the ground.

Emma whipped around to the doorway of the kitchen and the origin of the sound. The action turned her whole body, and her left knee slammed hard into the side of Regina's head, propelling it forward into the edge of the counter.

"Shit!' Emma cried as she jumped off the counter, immediately she crouched down on the floor behind the island, using it as a shield between her and the intruder.

"Emma?" The intruder asked, it was muffled and it was clear the person was no longer facing the interior of the kitchen.

"Mary- Margaret?" Regina asked, recognizing the voice instantly.

"Regina." The other brunette said with as much authority as she could muster.

Emma scrambled for her shirt, throwing the tank top on before beginning to yank her jeans up her legs. Once she was somewhat decently dressed, she poked her head up over the central island, "Mom, I can-"

She tried, to explain but was promptly cut off by her mother, "Regina Mills, I have had it up to here with you corrupting my child!"

The blonde tried to struggle to her feet, but paused when she realized that her girlfriend hadn't tried to make herself equally presentable, or even tried to lash back at Mary- Margaret, "Regina?"

The mayor was laying flat on her back with one hand held against her forehead, her eyes were shut tight and her lips were pressed tightly together, "Ow."

"Gina, hon, let me see your head." Emma asked gently, pulling Regina's hand away from her forehead to examine the damage. There was a distinct, dark purple horizontal line across the brunette's forehead from where it had made solid contact with the counter.

"Shit, Gina, don't move."

"Can do." Regina said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

Emma stood up to see her mother, back turned to the interior of the kitchen, a wicker basket on the floor beside her.

Throughout it all, she hadn't paused in her angry ranting at the former Evil Queen, "Tried to be reasonable, tried to give you the benefit of the doubt, and this is what I get for my trouble. Walking in on the two of you in the kitchen again."

"Mom."

"I mean really, what is with you two and the kitchen. Do you not have a bedroom for Christ's sake?"

"Mom."

"This is the last straw, I swear, I'm going to-"

"Mary- Margaret!" Emma yelled, finally snapping the brunette out of her annoyed rambling, "Did you come over here for a specific reason aside from embarrassing me thoroughly?"

Mary- Margaret spun quickly on her heel, grabbing her basket off the floor and advancing on her daughter to drop it on the counter. Her eyes were fiery and the vein on her forehead was bulging larger than Emma had ever seen if before- she was afraid it might burst, "I brought you some muffins."

With that, she began making her way out of the kitchen. In the doorway she paused with a smirk on her lips, "Oh and Emma, you messed up your math in the diner the other day. Regina's 67, not 57."

A gasp of indignation was drawn from the mayor still sprawled on the ground clutching her head, "You're really 56, bird brain!"

Mary- Margaret just laughed all the way out of their house, pulling the front door shut behind her.

* * *

The next day, Mary- Margaret hardly managed to contain her smirk when Regina walked into the city council meeting with her hair swept sideways in pseudo bangs covering most of her forehead. The part that wasn't obscured by hair had a dark purple line still showing from beneath the coverup Regina had applied.

 


	6. Chapter 6

"That's absolutely mortifying!" Ruby laughed in sympathy, covering her mouth slightly as she leaned across the counter of Granny's Diner.

"I know!" Emma all but yelled. Then lowering her voice, she leant over the counter, meeting Ruby halfway, "But it was totally worth it."

Ruy quirked an eyebrow, "Spill it, Swan."

Emma smirked at how excited her friend was getting. She shot a quick look around at the rest of the patrons, the only other people sitting at the counter was LeRoy, who was at the far end near the door and wasn't close enough to hear, and David who was sitting a couple of stools down but seemed pretty absorbed in his breakfast.

"Let's just say angry sex with Regina, is undoubtable the hottest sex I've ever had."

"No!"

"Yes!"

Ruby picked up a mug and rag to dry it so Granny wouldn't yell at her for not doing her job, "Details, I demand all the details!"

The blonde couldn't hold back the huge smile blooming on her face, "Once my mother left, and after Henry's play date, Regina had this huge migraine. So I didn't think that I would be getting any for at least a couple of days-"

"Wait, why did Regina have a migraine?"

Emma blushed a bit, "That may have been my fault."

Ruby just stared at Emma until she cracked, "When Mary- Margaret walked in, Regina was still on the floor between my legs and I spun too quickly and might have kinda hit her with my knee and slammed her head into the edge of the counter."

At that, the waitress lost it. A loud laugh escaped her throat as she threw her head back in enjoyment, Emma reached across the counter to smack her friend lightly on the arm, "Oh shut it."

It took a moment, but eventually Ruby sobered up. The smile didn't drop from her face as she continued drying dishes though, "So you concuss Regina and then she still has incredible sex with you?"

"I didn't concuss her, just deeply bruised."

"Sure."

  
"Do you want to hear my story or not?"

Ruby just waved a hand for Emma to continue.

"So anyway, Regina was still super pissed at Mary- Margaret for walking in on us and so later that night after we put Henry to bed, she did this thing."

"She did a thing?" Ruby laughed at the faraway look in her friend's eyes.

"It wasn't just a thing, it was THE thing." Emma raised her eyebrow at Ruby in an attempt to convey the serious distinction she was trying to make.

"What was the thing?"

The blonde looked around again quickly before leaning over the counter to explain herself.

She didn't notice the surreptitious way David shifted in his seat to overhear what his daughter was saying, or the blush that crept up his cheeks as he caught small bits of what the thing was.

When Emma finished and she settled back on her stool, even Ruby had a faint blush on her face and her jaw was practically on the floor.

"No way! The uptight mayor, crazy ass Evil Queen, Regina Mills did that to you?"

"Cross my heart. I literally passed out."

"Oh my God."

* * *

Dinner at the mayoral mansion had become a Saturday night tradition with the whole Charming- Swan- Mills clan. It was a few days after Mary- Margaret walked in on Emma and Regina, and the brunette still had a radiantly dark purple bruise on her forehead which makeup was doing little to conceal.

The first thing out of Mary- Margaret's mouth once Regina opened the door to let her and Charming in was, "Regina, how's your head feeling?"

From that point, Regina had spent the night attempting to ignore any and everything that Mary- Margaret said, Mary- Margaret spent the night antagonizing the mayor, and David spent the night preoccupied with what he heard at the diner that morning.

When they finished dinner, Regina got up to clear the table, Emma going to help her, but David stopped her, "I've got it." He took the other half of the dishes from Emma and trailed the mayor into the kitchen.

He awkwardly stood by the sink, waiting with a towel to dry after Regina rinsed.

"That lasagne you made was really good." He offered.

"Thank you."

They washed in silence for a while, until finally Regina cracked.

"Alright chisel chin, what do you want?"

David put the towel down and leaned on the counter while trying to figure out how to word his question, "So I um- I overheard something um, interesting."

"Are you going to tell me, or do I have to guess what it was that your pea brain found interesting enough to bother me with?"

Pushing away the last of his pride, David just went out with it, "I heard about the thing."

He rose his eyebrows and looked up at Regina. The mayor's eyes immediately hardened, "Listen, meat head. I don't know who told you, but I can assure you that it isn't what you think it is. And that's entirely beside the point, it was a long time ago and you can't even try and act all high and mighty on me now because I know things about you that would-"

"Woah, take a step back and retract the claws." David held his hands up defensively, cutting Regina off mid rant, "It isn't anything bad."

The mayor didn't let up on her glare, "Then what the hell did you hear?"

"At the diner this morning, I overheard Emma talking to Ruby. She uh- she mentioned something which you did that made her- um."

"Spit it out Charming, you're giving me a speech impediment just listening to your rambling."

"I heard about the thing you did that made her pass out." He said in one quick rushed breath.

Instantly, the hard look on Regina's face morphed into a satisfied smirk, "Oh?"

"Will you explain it to me?"

The mayor's smirk only grew to an unsettling grin, "Wait, let me get this straight. You were one step shy of a peeping Tom on your own daughter, and now you've come to me for advice on how to pleasure your wife who, by the way is not only in the next room, but also the one person who originally destroyed my happiness?"

"Well when you put it like that."

David hung his head and turned to leave the kitchen.

Regina stopped him with a wide smirk, "Wait, shepherd. Come back. So really, it's all about the rhythm and the angle."

* * *

"Regina seems sort of bitter." Emma said, swirling the remainder of her beer around in the bottle. She much prefered bonding with her mother over alcoholic beverages, than over muffins as the two had replaced Sunday morning baking at the mansion with Friday night drinks at the Charming's apartment.

"Regina is always bitter." Mary- Margaret smirked into her white wine. Since the day Mary- Margaret had walked in on Emma and Regina in the kitchen, or 'D-Day' as Emma had taken to calling it, the younger brunette had taken great joy in antagonizing the former Queen.

"Yeah, but more so lately. I did something stupid, and I think it made her more bitter."

Mary- Margaret shook her head, "No, Emma. You can't blame yourself, Regina has other issues."

"But I'm pretty sure this is my fault."

"I doubt it has anything to do with you. The whole 'killed-your-dad' complex, must be hard for her to live with this close to Father's Day."

Emma was in the middle of sending her mother a glare at the cheap shot taken at her girlfriend's expense, but froze in an action so sudden she nearly toppled from her seat, "Shit, when is Father's Day?"

"Tomorrow."

"Shit." Emma repeated, "Am I supposed to do something for David?"

"That would be nice."

"Shi-"

"Don't say that word again!" Mary- Margaret scolded her daughter like she was a child.

"Sorry. I've gone twentyeight years without having to worry about the whole Father's Day thing, or the cursing in front of parents thing. Or really, the whole parents thing."

"Right."

Emma finished her beer and put the bottle down quickly on the coffee table, gathering her coat and keys, "Well I had better buy a card. I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow?"

"Bring Henry and the Wicked Witch over, and we can take Henry to the park and have a nice picnic lunch."

It took everything Emma had not to comment on the jab Mary- Margaret had made, but she just smiled and promised that they would be there.

* * *

The afternoon in the park passed relatively easily. Regina managing snacks and sunblock with her large tote bag while Emma and David alternately took turns running around with the pre-teen to tire him out. Mary- Margaret and Regina were even getting along and making civil, benign conversation.

After about an hour, Henry pulled Regina to get him another juice box from the trunk of her Benz so Emma and the other brunette relaxed on the bench together, Mary- Margaret was bursting with news.

"You wouldn't believe what David did last night."

Emma groaned, "Was it something stupid? Because I really refuse to come in the middle of one of your ridiculous marital spats again, I still haven't forgotten the issue with the leaky sink."

"No, it's not that again." Mary- Margaret cut her off quickly, "It was amazing."

The blonde did her best not to flinch, but she couldn't contain the shiver that ran through her at the thought of her father doing anything 'amazing' with her mother. Mary- Margaret either didn't notice or decided to ignore it.

"I mean I never knew that he knew how to do anything like that."

"Do we really have to talk about this?"

"Hey, I walked in on you and Regina twice now, you told me practically your entire sexual history before the curse lifted, this is nothing close to that."

Emma rolled her eyes but listened all the same. Neither woman noticed Regina returning from the car, as she drew up beside the bench in time to hear the tail end of the teacher's recounting of the night's events.

"-I mean I nearly passed out!" Emma remained silent, recognizing just how similar it sounded to something a certain someone had done for her recently.

"That is certainly great." The blonde replied monotone.

"I mean we've been together for years, I've no idea where that came from. It was so unlike David, it was like he was an entirely different person"

"Where do you think he learned it, dear?" Regina smirked from behind the bench, making Emma jump up and turn to conceal her laughter while Mary- Margaret blushed a deep red.

"I think I'll just go now." Emma said, edging her way towards where Henry was running across the grass with David.

Regina and Mary- Margaret stayed where they were in silence, Regina with a giant smirk, and Mary- Margaret with a blush which refused to lessen.

Suddenly, the blonde tripped and landed sprawled on her back. Regina laughed shortly at the woman's antics, but that laughter died away when Emma didn't move to get back up.

"Emma?" Regina called in concern from behind bench Mary- Margaret was resting on.

The sheriff didn't respond, and both brunette's were up and on her in a heartbeat, "Emma, dear, what's wrong?"

A pathetic whimper escaped Emma's lips as she scrunched her eyes shut tighter.

"Words, we need words, Emma."

"My leg." She managed to grind out between her teeth.

Regina carefully rolled the blonde's left leg to get a look at the back, and gasped when she saw a tear that went down through the jeans and cut into the skin of Emma's calf. Blood was leaking out hot and red into the mayor's hands, it took all of two seconds for her to get into gear.

"Snow, go to my car and get the first aid kit out of the back and call an ambulance."

"No, I don't want to leave Emma."

Regina's eyes instantly hardened as she snapped at the younger woman, "Snow White, listen to me and do as I say. Now!"

The words echoed in Mary- Margaret's head as she reluctantly stood up and ran towards the car. They were the same words that the brunette could recall hearing a number of times in her youth, but one time in particular stuck out to her- the first time Regina had ever used those words or truly snapped at her.

She pushed the memory aside and grabbed the first aide kit, dialing 911, and rushing back to her daughter and step-mother.

The next half hour passed in a blur waiting for an ambulance to arrive, rushing to the hospital, getting Emma checked in, and waiting for her to be seen.

It turns out, in running after Henry, Emma tripped over a large sharp rock and during the fall, she cut open the back of her calf on that same rock.

Mary- Margaret was sitting in the waiting room while Emma and Regina were back getting the blonde stitched up. David had taken Henry home and they were spending quality time at the Charming's apartment while they waited for the women to return.

Once the adrenaline of rushing to the hospital wore off, Mary- Margaret couldn't keep the memory that had threatened to overwhelm her at bay any longer.

* * *

It was the middle of the night, and Snow had just turned eleven years old. There was a massive thunderstorm, she held out for as long as possible, but one large crack of lightning sent her sprinting from her own room, down the hall, and to Regina's bed chambers.

She knew the path well, having taken it many times before when the weather conditions were similarly tremulous.

She bypassed knocking, slipping right in and leaping into the large bed. The action made Regina snap into sudden consciousness, and she sat upright- her hair was a mess and she had a confused look on her face.

When the older brunette's eyes landed on the girl, recognition settled over her face, "Snow, dear, what's wrong?"

A crack of lightning outside the window answered the question for her as Snow ducked her head in fear.

"It's the storm?"

The girl nodded sheepishly, "Alright, come on." Regina shifted to the side and pulled down the covers for Snow to slip beneath next to her, "Hop in, dear."

Snow did so gladly and wasted no time in curling herself into Regina's side.

"I'm sorry, Gina." Snow had called the Queen 'Regina' all of two times before deciding that she needed a nickname. Since then, it had been 'Gina'.

The older girl just ran her hand through Snow's hair in an attempt to comfort her, "It's alright dear." They were silent a moment while Regina continued stroking her daughter-in-law's hair, "You know, Snow, I used to be afraid of storms when I was a little girl too."

"Really?" The girl looked up to Regina with shining eyes.

"Really."

"I didn't think that you were afraid of anything."

A dark shadow passed behind the queen's eyes, but she hid it easily with a smile, "I'm afraid of plenty of things."

"How did you get over it? Being afraid of storms?"

Regina's smile became genuine as she sat up properly, "When I was very young, my mother taught me how not to be afraid. Would you like me to teach you?"

Snow's enthusiastic nod melted Regina's heart

"Okay-"

A servant knocked lightly on the chamber door, cutting Regina off, "Your majesty, a caller has requested a special audience with you."

It was a code she had learned quickly after her marriage, and a panic settled in as she took one look at the small girl still curled into her.

"Snow, you need to go back to your room."

"But aren't you going to teach me to not be afraid."

"Yes, dear, of course. But I have to talk with your father first."

The girl perked up at the mention of the King, "Well you can teach father too!"

"No, dear. I have to talk with him on my own."

Heavy footsteps could be heard echoing down the hall towards the room and Regina's heartbeat sped up in panic, "Please, Gina? I just want to tell him goodnight."

Finally the older brunette snapped. She grasped the girl's shoulders tightly, forcing her to meet Regina's eyes, "Snow White, listen to me and do as I say, now! Go!" She urged, giving the princess a gentle push.

The scared tone in Regina's voice confused Snow, but she hastened to do as directed and ran from the room, taking the rear exit which was closer to her own bed chambers.

Around an hour later there was a gentle knock at the princess's chamber door.

"Who is it?" She whispered, knowing she was supposed to be asleep.

"It's Regina. I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier. Can I come in?"

Snow weighed her options, the storm was still raging outside, and she was reluctant to send away her favorite source of comfort so quickly.

"I guess."

Regina slipped in and didn't hesitate in sitting on the side of the young girl's bed. There were tear tracks on the queen's face which she had tried to conceal but was doing a bad job of it.

They were both silent for a moment during which Regina occupied herself in combing through Snow's long hair with her fingers.

"Do you still want to learn how to not be afraid?"

A few minutes later found Regina and Snow sneaking through the kitchen. The young princess wasn't as good at quietly creeping across the wooden floor so Regina swept her up and onto her back for the final part of the voyage, setting her back down on the floor once they were at a dead end facing a door.

"Are you ready?"

Snow grabbed Regina's hand to hold tightly before nodding, "Ready."

The queen pushed the door open to reveal the back garden, it was small and the cooks used it to grow all the spices and vegetables in the royal meals, but right now it was flooded as the rain continued to pour down, interrupted with occasional bursts of lightning and thunder.

Regina led the way, striding out to the middle of the garden, turning her face up to the sky to let the rain wash over her and soak her to the bone.

Beside her, Snow White just stared at her questioningly. Regina laughed at the confused expression on the princess's face, "This is it." She crouched down so she was closer to Snow's eye level, "The way to not be afraid, is to face your fears. See, storms aren't that scary. It's just a bit of rain and wind."

"Then how come you're still afraid?"

By now the rain had blended with the tear tracks so the two couldn't be told apart, "Because sometimes when you face your fears, they're more than just some wind and rain."

The princess seemed to question the words for a moment while Regina watched her closely. Finally, as if giving her approval, Snow turned her face to the sky and put her arms out to the side just as Regina had done a few moments earlier.

The brunettes laughed together while they danced in the rain.

* * *

Mary- Margaret was jolted from her memory when the object of it sat down beside her. All teasing from earlier in the day had died away in light of the emergency.

"Emma is going to be fine, she got a few stitches and they just ran her to x-ray to re-check and make sure she's not broken anything. Apparently she was squirming around during the first one so it wasn't a clear picture."

The teacher nodded, "That's good."

They sat in awkward silence for a while, neither one knowing how to broach the quiet. Since Mary- Margaret had walked in on the kitchen scene, she had a sort of power over Regina that neither one quite yet knew how to operate around.

She snuck a sideways glance at the mayor, observing the way she was bouncing her knee. She knew it was one of Regina's nervous habits, the woman didn't have many, but this was the one Mary- Margaret had learned to recognize in the Old World.

"I'm sure Emma will be fine." The teacher smiled, she placed a tentative hand on Regina's arm in an attempt to comfort her.

"I know, Doctor Dolittle. I don't need your reassurance." Regina replied cooly, glaring at the hand until it retreated.

"Alright," Mary- Margaret finally snapped, "that's the last straw. What on earth is wrong with you Regina? You've been insufferable since last week, you couldn't even let up for Father's Day!"

The mayor let out a derisive little snort, "Since when do you care about Father's Day?"

"My father was a great man-"

"Your father was an angry drunk who liked his liquor almost as much as he liked to keep his kingdom wealthy."

Mary- Margaret slammed her jaw shut, pressing her lips into a hard line as she stood up, grabbed Regina by the upper arm and half led, half dragged her out of the crowded waiting room. She paused outside a supply closet, opening the door and pushing the mayor in before entering herself.

"Ok Regina. We're talking. Now."

"There's nothing I want to talk about with you."

Mary- Margaret hardened her stance, blocking the exit while Regina just continued shooting her a hard glare.

"Well clearly there is something. Normally you're just partly insufferable, but lately you've been something else! And you never take cheap shots at my father-"

Regina finally interrupted, "I don't take cheap shots. I'm merely stating a fact."

"You're slandering a man who can't defend himself!"

The mayor laughed, short, cold, and humorless, "Like he ever cared about people who can't defend themselves."

Both women fell silent. Regina dropped her eyes to the floor as she felt Mary- Margaret's questioning stare bore into her.

When the teacher took in a breath to breach the silence, Regina finally snapped her head up, "Emma proposed to me."

Mary- Margaret's jaw fell open, "Excuse me?"

"Four days ago, she proposed to me."

The brunette's brows knitted together in confusion, "And you-"

"I said no! Your daughter asked me to marry her and I said no because your father made me afraid of marriage!"

It took positively all of Mary- Margaret's self restraint to keep from interrupting Regina's soliloquy. But she managed to bite her tongue as Regina paced up and down in the restricted space of the closet.

"I know it's ridiculous, it happened forty some years ago in another realm, but I just can't. I love Emma with my entire being, I love her in a way didn't think I could love someone after Daniel died, and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. But the thought of being anyone's wife ever again makes me physically ill."

"Regina-"

"Don't. Just don't. I don't want your pity or your pep talk or your hope speech or whatever the hell else you have bubbling in the back of your disgustingly cheerful mind."

With that, Regina tried to shove past Mary- Margaret and exit the closet, but the teacher grabbed her wrist as she attempted to go around.

"Regina." The mayor refused to turn around, but stopped all the same, "I'm not going to give you a hope speech, that's not what you need."

"Oh, so now you know what I need?"

The teacher dropped the mayor's wrist, "You need a thunderstorm."

"Excuse me?" Finally, Regina spun on her heel to glare at the smaller brunette.

"Remember when I was a kid, and I always snuck into your room when there was a storm? You said the only way to overcome your fears is to face them. That' what you need to do."

Regina tried to scoff at Mary- Margaret's unbridled optimism, but it came out watery and pathetic. Try as she might, Regina couldn't hide that she was on the verge of tears, "Marriage isn't some rain and wind. It's not something you just face and get over."

"You love Emma, right?"

"Mary- Margaret, that's not the poin-"

"Do you love my daughter?"

The mayor squirmed at direct question, "Yes, but-" Mary- Margaret cut the older woman off by engulfing her in a tight hug, only strengthening her grip when she felt Regina's tears fall hot on her shoulder.

"Then that's all that matters."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the great comments I've been getting on this work, I hope you will enjoy this long chapter!

Ruby felt extremely awkward standing on the porch of 108 Mifflin Street, a brown paper bag in her hand. But when Emma had called her earlier she sounded in desperate need of alcohol and she had promised Regina wouldn't be home for another few hours so Ruby had come.

She rang the doorbell, listening as it reverberated in the depths of the mansion before she heard scuffling on the other side of the heavy door.

The door swung open soon after to reveal a smiling Emma who quickly ushered her inside.

"Thank god you're here. After that damn accident at the park Regina and Mary- Margaret have been all protective and won't hardly let me out of the house." Emma led the way into the kitchen where she pulled down two wine glasses and set them onto the counter, "And I ran out of all the good alcohol two days ago so all that's left is Regina's hard cider."

By this point Emma was just rambling, Ruby took a seat at the counter and listened with a grin, "Don't get me wrong, I love Regina's cider but it's a bit harder to day drink and get away with. Not that I'm a big day drinker, there's just nothing else to do until I get my stitches out."

The blonde had the cork out of the wine and had poured out two generous glasses before she finished her little speech.

Ruby didn't say anything as she watched Emma raise her glass and take a healthy sip. Emma raised her eyebrow when she saw that Ruby was just sitting and observing her, "Are you going to drink?"

"Oh, I wasn't sure if you were going to leave me any."

The blonde raised an eyebrow, "I'm not an alcoholic."

"Sure, hon." Emma glared until Ruby broke with laughter, "Alright fine, you're not an alcoholic."

"Thank you."

Ruby took up her own glass, sipping the red lightly, "Well at least Regina and Mary- Margaret aren't fighting anymore if they're both worried about you."

"Oh, that's what you would think!" Emma shook her head dramatically. It was clear that a week of being cooped up in the mansion with nothing to entertain her but the liquor cabinet was getting to the blonde, "They aren't talking to eachother. I don't know what the hell happened while I was getting stitched up but one I was let out of the hospital it looked like Regina had been crying and they haven't said one word to each other."

"Regina, crying? That doesn't seem right."

"I know!"

"Hmm." They both thought quietly, sipping their wine, "Do you have any plans to get them talking again?"

"No." Emma sulked. She wracked her brain, "Family bike ride!"

Ruby looked at her skeptically, "Just how much have you had to drink today?"

"No I'm serious! We go on a bike ride, me, Regina, Henry, and my parents, and they'll have to talk. I'll suggest it to David so then he can take it as his idea."

"That's a horrible idea." Ruby dismissed, "Mary- Margaret on a bike is like Bambi on a frozen pond."

"That's why it's perfect!" Emma was truly excited now as she paced up and down the kitchen, "Regina is bad on a bike too. They'll both fall behind and have to talk to eachother!"

"Let me get this straight." Ruby set down her wine and examined her friend closely, "Your master plan is to drag your girlfriend and mother out into the woods, hope that they get separated from the rest of you, and are forced to talk to each other to survive?"

Emma was quiet a moment as she turned the plan over in her mind, "It's not like they'll be fighting to survive, Regina can just poof them back if something happens."

Ruby snorted, "More like Regina can poof herself out and leave Mary- Margaret to the wolves."

They both shared a laugh before Emma suddenly stopped with a sober expression, "That's twisted with the whole werewolf thing."

"I know. Hey, on the up side you might get some great angry sex out of it again!"

"I doubt it." Emma swirled the remainder of her wine around the glass dejectedly, "I may have proposed to her again yesterday and since then she's been frigid."

"And you've been drowning your sorrows in alcohol ever since?"

"Oh shove off."

* * *

"I absolutely detest bicycles." Regina complained for the third time that morning. She, Emma, and Henry were walking their bikes to the park where they were to meet with Mary- Margaret and David for a family trail ride.

"You absolutely detest everything that you aren't the best at." Emma smiled at her girlfriend.

"That's not true."

"Sure it's not, babe." The blonde shook her head and wrapped an arm around the mayor, tugging her in closely to Emma's side, "But you look really good in yoga pants."

Regina chuckled, "Thank you, dear."

Henry was walking ahead and was totally oblivious to his mothers behind him.

He had quickly gotten used to how the two women would get lost in each other, he never had a problem with their relationship and the three of them as a family just made sense to him.

"Did you check the weather? With clouds like this it looks like it may start raining." Regina asked, leaning against the blonde walking beside her.

"It's supposed to hold off until later." Emma saw she was fishing for excuses to cancel the bike ride.

Regina switched her tactic, "Are you sure you're up for this?" Though her concern was real, Emma knew that wasn't why she was asking, "You just barely got you stitches out. I don't want you to strain your leg."

"Doctor Whale gave me the all clear, I'm fine. You're not getting out of this."

Regina scowled at the implication but continued walking happily hip to hip with the blonde.

They arrived in the park moments later, the Charmings were still nowhere in sight, "Of course they're late." Regina huffed "I say if they don't show in ten minutes, we should head home."

"Oh no. Somehow both you and my mother got out of the last family bike ride. No way I'm letting that happen again." Emm declared, setting the kickstand of her bike and watching her girlfriend struggle to do the same, "What do you have against bikes anyway?"

Finally winning her fight with the small strip of metal, Regina tried not to show her annoyance, "They're dangerous, unnecessary, uncomfortable, and annoying." She huffed.

A smile began creeping onto Emma's face at the reply, "And you're a horrible bike rider."

"I am not!"

"Are so!" The sheriff shot back. Henry had abandoned the two of them to go ride circles around the park so Emma wrapped her arms lightly around Regina's waist to pull her closer into a loose hug.

Regina rolled her eyes at her girlfriend's childish antics, "I am a Queen, I have excellent grace and poise, and I am one of the most powerful magical beings in any realm."

Emma smiled, she had heard this speech multiple times, generally when she tried to get Regina to admit to a shortcoming. Nevertheless, she couldn't avoid one last poke at the brunette, "And you suck at riding bikes."

"Yes Emma! Fine you win! I hate bikes because they didn't exist in the Enchanted Forest and I didn't learn to ride until recently."

Even though it was only by provoking her girlfriend into an annoyed rant, Emma took pride in her victory. A triumphant smile graced her lips and she was about to tease Regina further when the brunette dropped her gaze to over Emma's shoulder and broke her concentration, "They're here."

Indeed, the Charmings were striding across the grass to where Regina and Emma stood.

"Did I already thank you for humoring my parents and their requests for family activities?" Emma asked, already sensing Regina's annoyance with the Charmings.

"You did, dear. Twice."

"Well consider this the third. Thank you, you're amazing."

Regina just smiled warmly at the blonde, "I would do anything for you."

The moment was so honest and open, Emma hated that the first thought that popped into her head was 'you'll do anything but marry me'. But she pushed that thought aside as her parents drew nearer.

Once Regina was sure that Mary- Margaret was watching them, she rocked forward onto her toes (without her usual heels the height difference between her and Emma was noticeably more significant) and brought their lips together. If the princess was making them go bike riding, the least Regina could do was make her squirm before they headed out.

Emma knew exactly what Regina was doing, and sure wasn't going to protest. But after a moment, Emma reluctantly released her girlfriend from the embrace as the Charmings drew up beside their parked bikes, but only after dropping a light kiss to Regina's hair and a whispering a plea for her to 'be nice'.

That plea was ignored by the mayor once the other two were within earshot, "How kind of you to grace us with your presence this morning."

David checked his watch, "We're only three minutes late."

"Wow, that's impressive, you taught him to tell time." Regina smirked at Mary- Margaret, "What other tricks does he know?"

The teacher chose not to respond and soon enough, the five of them were setting out on the forest trail. David led the way, followed by Henry, Emma, Regina, then Mary- Margaret brought up the rear.

In all honesty, the two brunettes in back were horrible bike riders, both being far more accustomed to riding horses in the Old World (David was just naturally gifted athletically and mastered a bike as soon as he sat on it.)

They both fell behind quickly as the other three disappeared from sight up the trail. A comfortable silence engulfed them as both were driven by their natural competitiveness to outlast the other. The quiet was interrupted only by short huffs as they navigated the rough terrain of the forest trail, their progress was slow, but neither showed any sign of letting up.

They paused when they turned a corner and found themselves staring up a steep, muddy incline. Regina finally broke the silence that had settled over them while pedaling, "You can turn back if you need to Mary- Margaret. There's no shame in admitting to one's limits."

The younger brunette laughed shortly, "Like hell."

With that, they pushed on up the incline. All was going fine until Regina's front tire hit a rock.

She felt the bike slide sideways beneath her and hardly had time to mutter "shit" before she had fallen from the bicycle and was sent rolling all the way back down the steep incline- narrowly missing a collision with Mary- Margaret on her way.

She came to a stop flat on her back in a puddle of mud.

Mary- Margaret immediately dropped her own bike and ran down the hill to where Regina was sprawled. Once she saw the mayor was alright, she couldn't contain her giggle.

"Sorry, what was that you were saying about admitting to one's limits a second ago? I seem to have forgotten."

Regina groaned in annoyance, "Would you just help me up?"

Mary- Margaret extended her hand to heave the ex-queen to her feet, but when Regina gave the hand a sharp tug, Mary- Margaret found herself face down in the mud right beside the mayor.

Regina's low, rich laughter filled her ears.

"That was incredibly childish." Mary- Margaret scolded while Regina just laughed.

"You're right, but so was your gloating, dear."

Both women struggled into sitting positions, Mary- Margaret tried to wipe the dirt and grime from her face but failed spectacularly.

Regina didn't even try and hide her laughter at the mud streaked face of the woman sitting beside her.

"Oh would you contain yourself?" Mary- Margaret huffed in annoyance.

"I'm afraid I simply can't take you seriously when you look like that."

The teacher rolled her eyes and wiped away most of the remaining mud while Regina just chuckled to herself. To even the score, Mary- Margaret subtly scooped a handful of mud and heaved it towards the laughing woman's face.

The thick splat of the mud glob hitting its target was followed by an eerie silence. Any number of thoughts races through Mary- Margaret's head as the reality of what she just did sunk in. She immediately prepared herself for a fireball, or something equally horrifying but was instead surprised to hear a soft chuckle.

Regina was laughing, "You're in for it now Ms. Blanchard."

Before Mary- Margaret could process her shock, she felt a mud ball hit her upside the head. The dirt tangled in her short hair as the breath rushed from her lungs.

At first she was too stunned to retaliate, but she was broken out of that stupor when she felt some of the mud drip from her hair and land on her sweater.

She took one final handful of mud and dropped it directly onto the top of Regina's head.

A crack of thunder preceded the start of a rain storm and drew the two out of their impromptu mud fight. In seconds, the sky seemed to split open as a torrential downpour swept through the forest, drenching everything in mere moments. The women took one look at each other, sweaty, dripping wet from the sudden exodus of the rain, and covered in mud; and broke out into a fit of laughter.

Regina was the first to regain her composure, sitting back against a nearby tree for a bit of rain shelter and wiping as much of the dirt as she could from her face and hair.

"I really hate bike riding."

Mary- Margaret laughed in agreement, mirroring the mayor's position against a tree on the opposite side of the path.

They silently brushed themselves off, until Mary- Margaret's thoughts became too much for her own head.

"Do you remember the day before the Winter Ball about a week after you married father? We took those dance lessons together."

Regina's first thought was out of her lips before she could stop herself, "I remember the night before." Instantly she hated herself for voicing such a thought, and she immediately tried to back pedal, "I was so nervous for the dance lessons that I hardly slept."

Mary- Margaret knew exactly what Regina had meant, and she knew what Regina was doing now, trying to protect her. It never failed to amaze Mary- Margaret how after all this time and all that had happened between the two women, Regina was still trying to protect her.

So she did what she always did, and let her, "Yes. I suppose I was more excited than nervous."

Regina nodded her acknowledgement, not trusting herself to speak. She didn't need to as Mary- Margaret filled the silence.

"Well, you just reminded me of it. I haven't seen you this carefree in a while."

The older brunette weighed her words. It was never easy with Snow, "It is hard to let one's guard down when there always seems to be someone there to make you regret it."

Mary- Margaret desperately wanted to say something, but she didn't even know how to begin expressing the depth of her feelings. She just leaned back against her tree and remembered.

* * *

Regina took a deep breath as she watched the instructor demonstrate the move again. She was trying her very best to memorize the intricate footwork, but she had always been terrible at ballroom dancing like this. A young Snow White stood by her elbow with the biggest smile on her face, this would be the first ball she was allowed to attend.

The princess picked up on the moves easily enough having grown up watching adults perform them while she hid behind banisters when she was supposed to be asleep.

The instructor took Regina's hands to lead her through the combination he had just taught her. They were progressing quite well. Under any other circumstances, Regina probably would have been enjoying herself- she always did love dancing despite her lack of natural talent, and she had originally been quite excited for her first ball as Queen.

But as it was, all she could remember was the harsh warning that Leopold had given her the previous night. Even if she had managed to forget his words, the brilliant purple bruises adorning her wrists and hips served as a painful reminder.

So while she stumbled through the dance lesson, learning the moves as though her life depended upon it, Snow twirled with all the grace of a natural dancer. Regina knew it was ridiculous to be jealous of such a young girl in such a menial task, but all the same she could hardly contain her competitive spirit.

The instructor once again called her out to practice a progression the princess had just perfected. Regina nailed the first few moves, but when time came for the first spin, she tripped over her own feet and landed flat on her back. The fall hurt her bruised hips, but she pushed thoughts of her beaten body away.

While the queen blushed deep red, the instructor muttered various apologies- even though they all knew it wasn't his fault, and Regina heard a faint giggling from behind her. Without getting up, Regina tilted her head back to see the princess with her fist pressed to her lips in attempt to quiet her laughter.

In times like this, Regina couldn't help but feel herself giving into loving her stepdaughter just a bit more. It seemed impossible that a girl so bright and optimistic could have really been accountable for the death of her true love.

"Snow, would you come and help me up?" Regina asked innocently.

"Of course!" The girl hastened to her stepmother's side, not noticing the sneaky smirk playing at the edges of her lips.

The moment that Snow put her small hand out to help up the queen, Regina grabbed on and gave a hard yank. As the princess fell, the older brunette moved quickly, putting one hand behind Snow's head so it wouldn't smack into the floor when she fell completely, and she slid one arm around the girl's waist to help absorb the brunt of the fall.

Snow gasped out in surprise, and found the rest of her breath chased from her lungs when Regina began attacking her with playful tickles.

"Did you giggle at me Snow?" She teased while the princess laughed helplessly.

"Gina, let me go!"

"I think you need to apologize for giggling because you seem pretty clumsy too."

"Gina!" Snow tried to wriggle free, but she was trapped by the queen's knees and unrelenting tickling.

"Say you're sorry!" Regina sing songed to the young girl.

"Never!"

The instructor cleared his throat from behind the two girls, snapping them back to the present. When Regina blushed at being chastised by the man, Snow just giggled at her again. Regina let herself enjoy the momentary happiness and wonder if she could find her happy ending here, with Snow White in spite of her father.

She knew without a doubt that she loved Snow as her own daughter though she had been married to Leopold for just shy of two weeks. It was moments like this when Regina believed there may be a happy ending for her somewhere. In the suffocating grasp of her commanding mother and a loveless marriage- she still had Snow White.

* * *

The rain was still pouring down, and the two brunettes were soaked to the bone, yet they just sat quietly on opposite sides of the path both lost in thought.

Neither noticed Emma parking her bike beside Mary- Margaret's abandoned one on the hill and walking down to where they were now sitting. She was entirely drenched by the rain and water was dripping from her curly ponytail, "What on earth are you two doing?"

Both women were snapped from their thoughts by Emma's reappearance.

The teacher floundered for an appropriate explanation of why she and the Evil Queen were sitting in the middle of the forest during a rainstorm, covered in mud, instead of continuing on the trail ride, but she was coming up short.

Regina was staring at Emma quite intently, or perhaps she was looking through Emma. The sheriff wasn't entirely sure.

"Gina, babe? Do you need help?" Emma waved a hand in attempt to draw the mayor from her apparent trance.

When she did focus clearly on Emma, only one word left her mouth, "Thunderstorms."

"What?"

"I just needed a thunderstorm."

"Now I'm really confused." Emma looked to her mother for help, but the teacher was just watching Regina with shining eyes and a splitting grin, "Did you get injured?"

"Yes."

"What is it, are you hurt? Should I call for help?" Immediately, Emma was crouching down in front of her girlfriend and checking her over for any sign of injury.

The blonde was just turning Regina's arm in between her hands to look for a contusion or cut when Regina snatched the limb back, looking deeply into Emma's eyes, "No, Emma. Yes."

The blonde just stared in confusion, "Yes what?"

"Yes, I'll marry you."

Emma faltered, "Are you sure? I mean you don't have to, I just-" She was trying to contain her ecstasy because she didn't want to pressure the brunette.

A warm smile spread slowly across Regina's lips as though it had all the time in the world (maybe now it did), "I've never been more sure of anything in my life. I love you Emma, and I want to be your wife-"

Before the brunette could finish her sentence, the air was knocked from her lungs and she found herself flat on her back for the second time that day. This time though, Emma was on top of her, melding their lips together, threading her fingers through Regina's hair to pull her closer.

When she felt Regina grin into the kiss, Emma pulled back slightly- her own smile was radiant, "I love you, so much."

The rain was still pounding down on them, and Emma's fingers were lodging the mud deeper into Regina's hair, but that didn't matter in the least.

"I love you too."

Regina pushed Emma's bangs back off her face, cupping her cheek and pulling her back down to reconnect their lips.

Their moment was broken only by Mary- Margaret's vague rambling as she pushed herself up to her feet and tried to make a quiet exit to where her bike was still stationed. For once, she didn't take the opportunity to intrude on the couple.

Regina felt the happiness filling her, inflating like a balloon in her lungs. Despite all that had happened in the past, Regina felt something she hadn't in a long time- hope. She could have love here, with Emma, with the family they had made together.

Things were changing as much as they were staying the same.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some lightness to cut the heavy of the flashbacks from the last chapter.

"You can't be serious."

"Why?"

Ruby shook her head, "You're marrying a woman who used to be a Queen."

"And?"

"Queen means royal wedding."

"Shit." Emma dropped her head into her hands as she contemplated what she could do, "But we talked about it and Regina said she wants a small wedding."

"Are you sure that's what she really wants though? Maybe she's just being considerate, I mean it's not like you can really compete with a royal wedding."

"You keep saying that like it's supposed to mean something, what exactly is entailed in a royal wedding?"

Ruby immediately perked up as she laid the dish rag down on the counter and leaned against it with a wide grin splitting her face, "Well first of all, it wasn't just the wedding. These were the old days we're talking about, guests traveled from miles away for weeks to celebrate. The whole thing went on for days after the ceremony with drinking and dancing and food."

Emma smirked, "That just sounds like a crazy house party some frat kids would have on a long weekend."

"I'm not done." Ruby dismissed easily, "The ceremony is filled with the most lavish ball gowns you've ever imagined, people decked out in jewels, it was a spectacle."

"And people enjoyed these things?"

"People loved these things. There wasn't a whole lot else to do in the old world aside from slay dragons, fight evil, and hold balls."

"That must have been quite difficult for you all." Emma drawled, the sarcasm practically dripping off her tongue.

"Jealous." Ruby sang happily.

Emma flipped her the bird before hopping off her stool and dropping a few bills onto the counter of the diner, "Thank you so very much for your help." She smirked as she exited the diner.

As Ruby was straightening out the money and clearing away Emma's coffee mug- shaking her head because her friend always left an absurdly good tip, Catherine scooted over from where she had been sitting a few seats down the counter.

"I see you're having a bit of fun with the bride to be."

Ruby laughed at the raised eyebrow the blonde was sporting, as the best friends of the brides, the two of them had been working together to help with the wedding, "I like to take my fun wherever I can find it."

"How about me helping you find a bit more?"

Ruby stopped her cleaning, instantly interested, "What do you have in mind princess?"

"Oh nothing big, just a bit of a challenge for the bachelorette party night." Catherine grinned.

"What's the challenge?"

"Twenty bucks to whoever can get their bride the most wasted."

Ruby's grin widened, "Regina would lose her shit if Emma showed up to the wedding hungover."

"Don't worry about it, Tink has this fairy dust hangover cure thing that we've been abusing since the curse lifted. Regina will never have to know. Or rather, when I win, Emma will never have to know."

The brunette thought over the bet. She was sure that she could get Emma to splurge a bit, and couldn't imagine Regina even risking having red eyes on her big day, the bet seemed too easy, "Deal." She finally agreed, shaking Catherine's hand to seal it.

* * *

Regina was sitting perched on the edge of her bed, her legs crossed, and a sullen expression on her face. "And I don't care what Ruby says, don't cross the town line, we still don't know how safe it is to travel back and forth." She said, playing with the hem of her tank top while Emma flitted around the room, throwing a few last minute things on to the bed.

"I know honey, I promise we're just going for a few drinks and then spending the night at Ruby's."

The mayor preoccupied herself with folding her soon-to-be-wife's pajamas and placing them neatly in the duffle, "And you have everything already packed for the honeymoon?"

"Yes. My suitcase is ready in the hall closet."

"And you double checked with your parents that they will watch Henry while we're gone?"

Emma stopped grabbing things and instead came to plop down on the bed beside the brunette, "Yes, I did." She fell onto her back with a dramatic huff, bouncing Regina and the duffle on the bed, "Isn't the nagging supposed to start after we're married?"

Regina laughed shortly, laying down and curling into the sheriff's side whose arms automatically went to encircle her, "I can nag you all I want Swan. You are mine after all."

"Yeah? Says who?" Emma teased, lightly tickling the older woman's sides.

"Says me." The mayor laughed.

Their intimate moment was ruined by the sound of the front door bell ringing, followed shortly by a pounding on the wood, and a muffled shout of, "Open up! We know you're in there!"

Regina huffed in annoyance, "I suppose the cavalry has arrived."

For her part, Emma just smiled as she pressed a light kiss to Regina's forehead. She stood and grabbed her duffle, "We should probably let them in before Ruby breaks down the door."

"Or we could send them all away and spend out last night before we get married having mind blowing sex?"

"Isn't that what we're going to be doing for the rest of our lives?"

"Maybe." Regina smirked.

"Come on, Ruby was really excited about planning all of this."

"Fine."

Begrudgingly, Regina followed the blonde down the stairs to the front door where there was still banging and yelling, "Give it a rest for a minute you two! You have the rest of your lives to be together!" Ruby called.

Emma rolled her eyes and opened the door, the brunette nearly fell through the entryway as Emma and Regina saw there were far more people waiting outside of their house than they originally realized.

The group entered the mansion without invitation, Ruby in the lead as she grabbed Emma's bag off her, "Let's go! It's bachlorette party time!"

Ruby, Belle, and Ashley were eager to sweep Emma off to the bar for a long night of partying. Catherine, Tinker Bell, and Maleficent were planning on a quiet night in the mansion with Regina.

Ruby was halfway through dragging Emma out of the mansion when she was stopped by Regina. Glaring at the younger brunette, Regina set her ground rules, "No drugs, no smoking, no strippers, no leaving the town limits, no magic, no arson, no breaking laws-"

"Did she just say no arson?" Ashley whispered to Belle.

"I'm not done." Regina cut her off, "You had better have my fiance in her changing room on time to get ready. She had better not be extremely hung over when she gets there. She had better not have any marks on her which cannot be covered by makeup or her dress."

"Regina, what do you think they're going to do?" Catherine asked her best friend, drawing her attention from the other bachlorette party.

"I don't know, but I wouldn't put anything past the wolf."

Though Regina had been trying her hardest to get along with Emma's friends for the sake of their relationship, she couldn't help her occasional slips.

While Regina was distracted, Ruby managed to edge the rest of the way out the door, "Got it boss, see you tomorrow!" She called over her shoulder, half dragging Emma down the path away from the mansion.

Once the four got situated in Emma's bug, the blonde hopped out, "Sorry, I forgot my wallet" she lied, running back to the front door where Regina was waiting with a smile.

She wrapped the mayor in a tight hug, kissing her soundly. They were broken up by Ruby honking the horn of the Jeep, when Emma pulled back, she dropped a light kiss to Regina's nose, "I love you."

"Love you too." Regina replied with a wide smile.

"I can't wait to see you walking down that aisle."

Ruby beeped the horn again, yelling out the passenger window, "Get in the car Swan or we're leaving without you!"

Reluctantly, Emma kissed Regina one last time before jogging down the path back to her car. She punched Ruby on the arm before pulling away from the curb. Regina waited until the car was out of sight before entering her house and finding her friends in the kitchen, the first bottle of wine was already cracked open and Catherine was in the process of pouring out four glasses.

* * *

It took all of five minutes for Ruby to try and break the first rule Regina had set out for them. The women had just arrived at the bar and were ordering a round of shots when the idea came to her, "We should go to a strip club."

Emma rolled her eyes, "Regina said no strippers, and there's not even a strip club in Storybrooke so we would have to cross the town limits, which is also a no."

Belle pouted, she was all for a bit of adult entertainment, "You are so whipped."

"I'm not whipped, I'm in love with an amazing woman who I'm going to marry in-" Emma checked her watch, "Thirteen hours."

Ruby whipped her wrist and mimicked the 'wha-pish' of a whip crack. Ashley smacked her lightly on the arm, "Don't tease Emma, she found true love and I can drink to that."

The youngest of the four raised her shot, prompting the others to do the same and throw them back quickly.

* * *

Back at the mansion, the women were sprawled out across the couch and floor watching a sappy movie. If not for the alcohol, the four would look like teenagers at a slumber party, each of them in sweats while they cuddled and watched the main character running through the rain crying. They were well into the second bottle of wine when the doorbell rang. Regina groaned as she disentangled herself from Catherine on the couch, and stood up to make her way to the front door.

When she opened the heavy oak, she was surprised to see a police officer on her doorstep.

"Can I help you, Officer?" She asked with a raised eyebrow that said she clearly didn't think there was a reason he was on her porch.

"I was called in about a disturbance at this residence." He said. He was tall and clearly well built, with biceps bulging under his blue police top.

Catherine, Maleficent, and Tink were standing just behind Regina in the entryway. Catherine had the biggest smirk on her face.

"That's ridiculous, who would have possibly called the police?"

Regina was being stubborn, but it was nothing new. Catherine intervened as the man shifted uncomfortably in the doorway, "Why don't you come inside and look around officer?"

Catherine hip bumped the brunette out of the way so the officer could enter. She grabbed Regina by the hand and led her back to the living room where they had been watching the movie, the other two girls and the officer trailed behind them.

Regina was thoroughly perplexed as her friend pushed her down into one of the armchairs.

The officer seemed to have regained his confidence as a brilliantly white smile spread across his tan face, "Which of you is the lucky bride to be?"

Maleficent smirked as she nodded at the brunette, "She is, officer."  
The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a ridiculous pink sash which read 'Bride' and draped it over Regina. Things began to click for her as Tink went over to Regina's stereo and turned up a top 20's station with a pounding base. Any question of what was happening was erased from Regina's mind as she officer sauntered over to her, giving his pants a sharp yank, the buttons up the sides all popped off and the pants were tossed aside.

Catherine, Maleficent, and Tink all whistled and hollered in appreciation while Regina just blushed a deep red, shooting a glare over at her best friend.

* * *

Meanwhile, Emma's bachelorette party was leaving the bar and heading over to Ruby's apartment. None of them were in a suitable condition to drive, and rather than call a cab on the warm night, the four chose to walk. They were just walking past the tattoo parlor when instantly, Ruby perked up.

"Matching tattoos!"

"Excuse me?" Belle asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We should all get matching tattoos!" Ruby's voice had a tendency to be higher when she was drunk, and now it was nearly a whole octave above her usually deep register.

Ashley seemed to be on Ruby's side as she began studying some of the more intricate designs that plastered the front window of the shop, "I have always wanted to get some ink. Something for my mother." She mused aloud.

Emma just laughed and shook her head, "I'll watch you idiots make decisions that can never be undone, but no way am I getting one of those."

The other three shared an evil look while Ruby shrugged noncommittally, "Sure, we'll see about that."

"I'm serious!" Emma stomped her foot like a child, "Regina would kill me."

"Or she would be totally turned on." Ashley countered.

"Chicks dig tattoos." Ruby agreed, "Let's just go in." The brunette pleaded, already pushing open the door of the shop and leading the party inside.

Thirty minutes later, the four exited the shop again, Ruby, Belle, and Ashley all with matching white gauze pads taped over their ankles, and Emma had another beer. As they began walking down the road the rest of the way to Ruby's apartment, the three had a distinct limp while the blonde had a smirk. She stopped short, when she saw smoke rising from the harbor.

"Do you guys see that?"

Belle squinted, her mouth pressing into a hard line, "Looks like smoke. Do you think there's a fire?"

"Yeah."

Ruby chuckled to herself, "Well at least we know it's not your no- fun fiance. After all, she did say no arson."

The bachelorette party laughed and stumbled the rest of the way to Ruby's apartment.

* * *

Back at the mansion, the excitement of the surprise stripper had loosened the women up enough that nobody objected when Catherine suggested a game of 'never have I ever'. The blonde had suggested the game for the dual purpose of getting Regina as drunk as possible to win the bet, and also to get the mayor to relax a bit.

"I'll go first." Catherine smirked once the shots were all poured. The four women were sitting around the coffee table on the floor in a circle, "Never have I ever, kissed a girl."

Regina rolled her eyes as she, Maleficent, and Tink all downed a shot.

Maleficent was up next, she saw what Cathrine was doing a mile away, and was more than happy to join in, "Never have I ever kissed owned a Benz."

"Are you kidding me?" Regina asked, glaring at her friend.

"Take the shot, Mills!" Catherine cheered, grinning as the brunette gave in.

Tink smiled as she caught on to the game, "Never have I ever kissed Emma Swan."

"You're all ridiculous." the mayor frowned, downing her third shot. Now it was her turn, "Never have I ever had wings."

Now it was Maleficent and Tinker Bell's turn to glare as they threw back their shots.

Catherine thought a moment, trying to recall everything she had done with Regina in the old world, "Never have I ever, gone streaking." Finally, the mayor got a break from drinking as Tink was the only one to bring a glass to her lips.

"Never have I ever gotten married." Maleficent declared, with an absurd amount of pride as Regina and Catherine both drank.

"Never have I ever, slept with someone over ten years younger than me." Tink smirked at Maleficent.

The oldest blonde glared as she drank, Regina tried to take a shot as surreptitiously as possible, but she wasn't successful when all three other women gave her surprised glances. She ignored them as she quickly thought of her next statement.

"Never have I ever, vandalized public property."

"No way that's true!" Tink accused.

Catherine quickly agreed, "How many villages did you burn to the ground?"

"No that's different!" Regina rose a finger uncoordinatedly, finally giving some indication as to how much she had to drink so far, "That was destruction. I've never just vandalized something."

"Well we should fix that." Maleficent said with a wide smile.

It only took the four women about fifteen minutes to walk from Regina's mansion to the harbour where it was unanimously decided they would vandalize something. On the way, Maleficent had summoned some spray paint from the hardware store.

"So Regina, it's up to you. What do you want to vandalize?" Catherine said that word like it was a dare, she was teasing the brunette.

The mayor looked at all the warehouses and ships docked, her eyes sparked as they settled on their intended target, "I have an idea."

She took one of the cans of white spray paint from Maleficent and led the group over to the oldest ship on the dock. It was protected with magic so they couldn't board it, but whoever tried to protect the ship clearly hadn't thought to protect against the twenty-first century as Regina walked as close to the ship as she could and shook the can of spray paint.

She uncapped it, and with surprising coordination, began to draw in elegant cursive. She stopped a couple of times to shake off paint that clung to the tip of the nozzle.

Her bachelorette party watched in entertainment until she stepped back with a satisfied smile. The large ship now proudly boasted 'Captain Guyliner' along the side.

Tinkerbell's laughter was the hardest while Maleficent just looked at her friend with a slight questioning tilt to her lips, "Is that Hook's ship?"

"It is indeed." Regina smirked, "After how much he harrasses Emma, maybe this will teach him a lesson."

Catherine rolled her eyes, "I always knew there was a bit of the greeneyed monster in you."

"Now you're confusing me with my sister."

"Let's head back." Maleficent suggested, knowing that any mention of the brunette's sister would not end well. The four began heading away from the docks when Regina tripped over her own feet.

She threw a hand out to catch herself, but instead, ended up accidentally shooting a fireball out of her outstretched palm.

"Shit." Catherine hissed, ducking to narrowly avoid getting hit by her friend's random flame. The magic hit a crate behind the blonde and it burst into flame.

"Crap." Maleficent helped Regina to her feet while watching the crate burn.

The four women all just sort of stood there, watching the flames destroy the wood as the smoke crept higher into the sky. Regina looked over at Catherine, and the moment they locked eyes, they both devolved into a fit of giggles. Maleficent and Tink joined the soon afterward.

* * *

Mary- Margaret was woken up in the middle of the night by a loud crash, followed by an annoying commotion. David was still snoring beside her, and she took that as a good sign, choosing to ignore the noise.

Until she heard a very familiar voice float up through the open window, "I can't believe that just happened."

Mary- Margaret rose out of sheer curiosity and crossed to the bedroom window. Sticking her head out, she could just make out four figures silhouetted by crackling flame. That didn't track, she could have sworn she just heard Regina's voice, but she should be at home for her bachelorette party. The wedding was in just a few hours.

Her suspicion was confirmed though, as she heard another familiar voice float through the open window, "Well you just made it happen!" Catherine giggled.

Mary- Margaret furrowed her eyebrows, did Regina set something on fire?

"Well now I know what Emma sees in you, who knew you were so fiery?" Maleficent teased.

The teacher desperately wanted to stop listening, but now that she heard her daughter's name, she couldn't.

"That's not all Emma sees in her." Tinkerbell teased with a knowing smirk.

Regina uncoordinatedly pushed her friend, "Oh shove off."

At that, Mary- Margaret slammed the window shut, decidedly not wanting to hear any more about what her daughter may think of Regina.

* * *

Emma was in her dressing room ten minutes early, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Her bridesmaids were significantly less bright eyed, but they were excited nonetheless. The stylist in charge of doing both bride's hair and makeup flitted around the blonde, happily twisting her hair into a low bun.

"My, you certainly are brighter than the other bride." He commented offhandedly when he began spritzing Emma's bun with hair spray.

Ruby immediately tuned into the conversation, but didn't contribute, "Oh?" Emma asked.

"She seemed a bit." The stylist paused for a moment, "preoccupied."

In that moment, Ruby knew that she had probably lost the bet, but she recognized the frenzy creeping into her best friend's eyes and knew enough to step in, "Don't worry, Ems." Ruby gave her friend's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "She's probably just going all bridezilla on Catherine right now. I'll go check on them."

With that, the brunette slipped from Emma's dressing room and wandered across the hall to where Regina and her bridal party was waiting. She knocked once, not waiting for a reply before she entered.

The sight that greeted her made a wide grin break out across her face.

Regina was sitting in front of a mirror, her hair half done, likely because she had sent away the annoying stylist in the middle of doing her updo. She was still in her bathrobe, and she had dark sunglasses on her nose. A bottle of water was clutched tightly in her hand as a scowl was etched on her lips.

"How's the blushing bride?" Ruby teased.

Regina didn't hesitate to flip Ruby the finger and Catherine met the other maid of honor in the doorway, "She's had better days. How's Emma holding up?"

The brunette sighed in defeat, "Never been better. She's getting her hair done now."

"When he finishes on her, send the hair guy back over here. Regina made him leave because he was 'brushing her hair too loudly'."

"Oh damn. I guess that means you won the bet?"

Catherine just chuckled as she looked over at her best friend, "Not only did I get Regina wasted, but we got a house call from a stripper, spray painted a boat, and set fire to some crap down at the harbour."

Ruby's eyes sparkled with jealousy, "What? That was you guys?"

"I'll be waiting on that payment." Catherine said, moving Ruby back out of the dressing room, "Go check on your own bride." She scolded playfully just as Tinkerbell came jogging down the hall in her bridesmaid dress and heels.

"Never fear, the magic hangover cure is here!" She sang happily, pulling out a glass bottle from her purse.

Regina groaned from inside, "Why is everyone shouting?"

Taking her last shot at the brunette, Ruby smirked, "Nobody is shouting Regina!" She yelled. She ducked quickly out of the room as a hair bush hit the wall right where she had been leaning.

"I'll see you in a few at the altar." Catherine laughed, shutting the door on the wide eyed brunette.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate writing weddings.

Regina Mills had seen many things in her over 60 years. She had seen villages destroyed, magical creatures roam free, magical battles, but she never expected to see what she did now. Snow White escorting her daughter down the aisle to marry the ex- Evil Queen.

Yet, she knew she would never see anything more beautiful.

Standing at the top of the aisle, watching Emma walking down towards her, Regina knew this was what her happy ending must look like. The other bride was stunning in her dress, and yet for a moment, Regina was more struck by Mary- Margaret. The younger brunette was wearing a simple lavender dress and the biggest smile she had ever seen.

The image was reminiscent of another, and she couldn't help but go back to that place, forty some years ago, in the hall of the largest church in the White Kingdom.

* * *

_"But Gina, I don't want to wear this tiara." Snow whined, she had her lip jutted out in the adorable way that Regina couldn't help but cave in to._

_The older brunette dropped down on a knee in front of the girl, "And why is that, Princess?"_

_"It's itchy."_

_Regina ran a hand through the girl's long hair and took the tiara from her hands, placing it on top of her head, and adjusting it just a bit, "But you look so good in it dear. Besides, don't you want to be matching with me?"_

_"But you're not wearing one."_

_"Not yet. But when I marry your father I'll be coronated as Queen and I'll get one just like yours."_

_"Really?"_

_"Mhm." She hummed, standing back up and allowing one of her maids to lace up the back of her wedding gown, "So you'll wear your tiara?"_

_"Yes, I will."_

_"Good."_

_The rest of the preparation for the wedding went seamlessly. It wasn't until they were standing just outside of the door as Regina was getting ready to walk down the aisle to Leopold that there was another issue._

_The music swelled, but Snow wouldn't walk through the door and down the aisle._

_"Snow, it's time to go." Regina whispered from behind her._

_"I can't."_

_"Why not?"_

_"I'm afraid."_

_With a little sigh, Regina put her flowers down on the floor, and her hands on the young princess's shoulders, "Listen to me, dear. You have nothing to be afraid of, weddings are supposed to be happy things. Everyone in there is so excited to see you in your beautiful dress, and it will all be over before you know it."_

_"What if I trip?"_

_That was something easy that Regina could fix, she picked up her bouquet from the floor and straightened up again, taking Snow's small hand in her own, "I won't let you. We'll walk down the aisle together."_

_And so they went, hand in hand down the aisle. The walk seemed to take forever for the princess who held tightly to Regina's hand the entire time, afraid of letting go, and it seemed to fly by in a matter of seconds for the older brunette who felt her fate become even more sealed with each footstep._

_When they reached Leopold, neither one wanted to let go of the other's hand, but it was Regina eventually who broke the hold, she crouched down beside the princess, giving her a hug and the bouquet to hold through the ceremony. She whispered in the girl's ear, "Thank you." Before she stood up, ignoring Leopold's offered hand, and brushed off her dress. She didn't open her lips again until she forced out a choked 'I do.'_

* * *

This time, when Snow reached the top of the aisle, she gave Emma a tight hug, whispering something to her, and she turned to Regina. There were tears sparkling in the corners of both of their eyes, and for a second neither knew how to broach the silence.

They made their moves simultaneously, Regina going to grasp the woman's hand, and Mary- Margaret going in for a hug. What resulted was an awkward side embrace, and a short laugh from both brunettes.

"Take care of her." Mary- Margaret said upon parting.

"Forever." Regina promised.

The wedding was flawless, a small intimate ceremony with friends and family followed by a large reception attended by just about everyone in Storybrooke.

The brides were inseparable sitting together at the head table, they never seemed able to keep their hands to themselves- not in the sketchy way. In the loving way of brushing the other's shoulder or pushing a strand of hair behind one's ear- small gestures reassuring the other that they were still there, and weren't going anywhere.

Mary- Margaret excused herself from where she was sitting beside David, and made her way to the bathroom, thinking the whole time of how beautiful the ceremony turned out to be. Mary- Margaret was washing her hands in the elaborate sink when the door opened to reveal Regina.

"Mary- Margaret." The woman trailed off, they both just stood a moment, watching each other.

Someone exiting an stall behind them broke the women out of the trance.

Regina moved in to check her makeup in a mirror as Snow dried her hands.

They waited until the other woman left before Snow broke the silence, "I realized something earlier, during the ceremony."

"Oh?"

"I've never been to a wedding without you being there as well."

Regina seemed to think this over for a moment, "We did go to a lot of weddings while you were growing up." She conceded.

Snow got a faraway look on her face as she remembered long nights spent in scratchy ball gowns, watching women dressed brightly as candy twirling with men in cumberbunds. She remembered the carriage rides home to the palace spent curled up on the plush velvet seat, her head cradled in Regina's lap while the rocking of the trip lulled her to sleep.

More than anything, she remembered the dancing.

* * *

_"But I don't want to dance with Prince Jackson." A young Snow White complained from where she was sitting under her step- mother's watchful eye, "He steps on my toes."_

_"Well dear, you're going to have to dance with someone. You know your father doesn't like you to sit and sulk all night." Regina herself was quite content to hide away in a corner of the ballroom with the young girl, but she knew all too well how Leopold liked to show off what was his- and his daughter and new wife were no exception._

_"I'm not sulking." Snow sulked._

_"Sure you aren't dear." It was moments like this which made Regina confront just how similar the young princess was to her when she was that age. But unlike Regina's strict upbringing, Snow's stubbornness was met with gentle admonishment and mild amusement, "I'll let you stay over here until this song ends, but you have to get out there for the next dance."_

_Regina didn't notice the sneaky glint that lit up the girl's eyes as a plan came to her, "Fine. I promise I will dance the next dance."_

_The queen smiled, proud of her minor parenting success and let herself relax as the song drew to a close. She caught sight of Leopold who was dancing with a young woman from this kingdom whom Regina who had never seen before (young here being a relative judgement as Regina herself had barely turned 19, and already Leopold was searching out fresher meat)._

_When the band played the last note, as if on cue, a small boy with messy sandy hair came up to Snow. He was wearing a crown which was perched precariously on his too small head, but the wicked tilt to his smile more than made up for any semblance of innocence the rest of his appearance may have conveyed._

_"May I have this dance, Princess Snow?" He asked politely, though with his hand already out, it was obvious that it was more a statement then a question._

_Sow shot one glance at Regina, letting a smirk settle over her lips as she delivered her perfectly mastered plan, "I'm sorry Prince Jackson, but I already have a partner for this dance."_

_Regina tried to hide her bewilderment as the young girl stood and grabbed her forearm, forcing the Queen to follow her out onto the dance floor._

_"Snow, dear, who is your partner?" Regina was already looking around for any of the other young boys that would normally dance with the princess, or even some of the older men who would let her stand on their feet for a while._

_"You are." The girl smiled, grabbing Regina's hand properly with her right, and settling her other hand on the sinched waist of the Queen's dress._

_Snow had shot up like a beanpole in the year since Regina had married Leopold, and now the girl's head was just about level with Regina's shoulder. She was a force to be reckoned with at eleven years old, and she was one of the most determined young girls Regina had ever encountered, so as the band began their next song, she had no choice but to relent and drop her free hand to Snow's shoulder and let the girl lead her in a waltz._

_After a few seconds, when Regina's brain finally caught up to the rest of her, she relaxed, allowing Snow to have her fun. A smile quirked her lips as the other wedding goers made space for the step mother- daughter duo to spin across the floor._

_As Snow tried to spin the older woman out and back in, she was caught by surprise when Regina switched their hands so now she was leading the dance. It was a bit more awkward as Snow had to reach up so her hand could make it to Regina's shoulder, but she just laughed at the change in position._

_When Regina spun Snow out, and back in, she caught her around the middle in a tight hug from behind. They hadn't realized the crowed they had gathered to watch their little dance until Regina noticed the applause and chorus of 'awes' that was being rained down on them from the other dancers._

_Throughout the ballroom, royalty moved to find their children, coercing them into one quick dance as the band picked up a slightly more upbeat tune for the impromptu child/ parent number. The only person who didn't seem entertained was Leopold._

_But even Regina couldn't find it in herself to care. More and more she was surviving her loveless marriage by allowing her rebellious side a little leeway and pushing Leopold's boundaries to see just how much she could get away with._

_From then on, it became a sort of tradition at every wedding that they went to, Regina and Snow led the realm in a parent/ child waltz._

* * *

Mary- Margaret watched the woman before her now, and wondered if she remembered those dances as well. Regina seemed to have a faraway look on her face as she clutched the edges of the sink. The only thing betraying her emotions was the rigiditiy of her elbows and the whiteness of her knuckles from holding the porcelain too tightly.

"Regina, you told me once that weddings are supposed to be happy events." Snow began, searching the mayor's reflection for any indication of what she was thinking, but she found none, "For a long time, your wedding to my father was one of my happiest memories. Now though, I think today is."

When Mary- Margaret received no confirmation that Regina had heard or processed any of what she said, she dropped her head slightly, moving around the older woman to exit the bathroom. Just before she reached the door, she was stopped by a hand on her elbow.

Instantly, Mary- Margaret whipped around. The mayor still wasn't looking at her, instead her gaze was trained on the chrome spout of the sink, but Mary- Margaret could see a tear progressing slowly down the older woman's cheek.

"I am so sorry Snow White."

"Regina." The younger woman's voice shook, and she wasn't sure if it was from the apology, the sincerity behind the statement, or because this was the first time Regina had used her full name since the curse had broken when they weren't in a state of emergency, "You don't need to-"

"Yes, I do. I never understood what it was like to lose a child until Emma showed up and I thought I was losing Henry. I am so sorry that I did that to you."

Regina couldn't stop the younger woman from wrapping her arms around her torso, but the mayor found she didn't want to stop the action. Instead, she leant into the embrace. She felt a few of Mary- Margaret's own tears splash down on her shoulder when she put her own arms around the teacher and held her like she hadn't in over thirty years since Snow was still a girl.

Regina tried to recall when the last time they hugged had been, but she found that she couldn't. You never expect the last time to be the last one, so you don't remember it- it isn't significant until later when you know everything is over. You don't know until it's too late.

Mary- Margaret however remembers the interaction perfectly. She wouldn't be able to forget that day if she tried.

* * *

_It was late in the summer of Snow White's 19th year. She awoke that morning, not expecting it to be any different than any other morning._

_She had breakfast with her stepmother and headed off to go riding. Regina's apple tree was finally bearing viable fruit so the Queen had planned to spend her day out in the garden tending to it. Sometime in the afternoon, Snow White returned from her ride, leaving her horse in the stables and making the short walk out to the secluded courtyard where Regina's prized tree was planted._

_She found her stepmother standing on an overturned bucket to reach some higher branches as she tended to the tree, seeing Snow, Regina climbed down, a perfectly ripened apple in her hand._

_"Hungry?" She asked as the girl drew nearer._

_"Starving." Snow stopped beside her stepmother and regarded the tree that had grown so large in the eight short years that Regina had lived in the castle._

_Regina offered the apple to the younger brunette who accepted it with a knowing smile, "Is this the first apple you've picked this season?"_

_"The one and only."_

_Snow White bit her lip, she knew how special the tree was to the woman, and she held the apple out to return it, "You should have it."_

_The Queen just shook her head, "I want you to."_

_Knowing how stubborn her stepmother could be, Snow gave in and lightly polished the fruit with her sleeve before bringing it to her lips and taking a satisfying bite. Regina looked at her expectantly._

_"It's amazing as always." She smiled, "I don't know what you do to this tree to make it's fruit so good."_

_"All it takes," Regina began, moving to gather her gardening supplies as she talked, "is dedication, time, effort, and a little bit of compassion. With those things, you can do anything."_

_Both women knew she was talking about so much more than trees now. They turned and began walking back towards the castle together_

_"And a little bit of love?" Snow smiled, bumping the older woman's hip with her own._

_Regina was quiet a long moment. She was still unsure if she was capable of love since Daniel's death, her chest still felt like an empty void she was incapable of filling. But Snow beside her was so bright, and so enthusiastic about life, she couldn't disappoint her again, "Yeah, and a little bit of love."_

_Snow recognized the empty faraway look in her stepmother's eyes and stopped her walking, forcing the older woman to stop as well. Wordlessly, she threw her arms around Regina, and pulled her into a tight hug, the Queen didn't hesitate in reciprocating, resting one hand gently on the back of Snow's head as if to cradle it. Regina always had a way of hugging her stepdaughter as if she were something delicate that needed to be protected (even now that Snow is an adult, and just as tall as Regina), Snow couldn't help but wonder if her mother had hugged her with such a maternal hold before she died._

_The next day, Snow learnt that Regina had murdered her father, and their lives could never be the same._

* * *

Now standing together in the bathroom, it's Snow's turn to cradle her hand against the back of Regina's head comfortingly.

"You are forgiven, Regina. You always have been." She promised.

The door to the bathroom swung open then, revealing a slightly flustered Emma, "There you two are, I've been looking everywhere for you." Her eyes widened slightly as she realized that both women had been crying, "I was starting to get worried." Emma said, but Regina saw the real message in her new wife's emerald eyes- You're still here, you haven't abandoned me.

Regina stepped out of Mary- Margaret's hold, and dried her tears, making sure that her makeup hadn't gotten smudged in the process.

"Are you two alright?"

The brunettes shared a short look before nodding in unison. Mary- Margaret was the first to find her voice, "I was just telling Regina how beautiful the ceremony was."

"Mhm." Emma hummed, she desperately wanted to know what they had been talking about, but knew better than to push.

"Regina got a bit teary when she realized she would have to sleep next to your snoring ass for the rest of her life." Mary- Margaret joked.

Emma was momentarily stunned at the crass word coming from her mother's mouth, and then she was even more amazed when Regina let a watery laugh escape.

"Come on, dear, I do believe you owe me a first dance." The brunette held out her hand to her new wife, leading her out of the bathroom.

At some point in the evening, Henry and David disappeared for a short time. Regina and Emma didn't notice as they had been completely absorbed in each other, swaying on the dance floor. However, when an all too familiar tune poured from the stereos, everyone but Emma took pause- the blonde was the only one who didn't recognize the song, never having lived in the Enchanted Forest.

She quirked an eyebrow at her new wife, but the brunette's eyes had landed on Mary- Margaret who had been dancing with Archie. The rest of the wedding goers gaze flickered between the two women, unsure of what was to come.

Mary- Margaret shook off any doubt she may have been holding, and crossed the dance floor stopping just short of the couple. She smiled at Regina, and it was that same sneaky half smirk she would have as a child. The teacher held her hand out, "May I have this dance, your Majesty?" The title held none of the bite that it used to, and now it even had a teasing edge.

"I suppose." Regina's own lips tucked up at the corners into a small smile as she accepted the younger brunette's hand, flashing a quick smile over her shoulder to Emma before she was swept up in a waltz by Mary- Margaret. This time, the dance held none of the hallmarks it used to- no awkwardly small steps to accommodate Snow's shorter legs, no off beat moves, no slouching to ensure they were closer in height, no uncertainty. Instead it was the well coreographed dance of two women who knew exactly what they were doing.

Everyone watched with hesitant smiles as the ex- Evil Queen danced with her step daughter.

They danced for a few minutes until Henry came up, nervously to tap his mother on the shoulder. The brunettes paused, "May I interrupt?" He asked, parroting what David had told him to say.

"Of course."

Snow gave Regina's arm a squeeze before moving away so that the boy could dance with his mother. It took all of Regina's will power to hold back tears as her son took her hand and began to lead in a choppy four step. The moves were jerky and a half beat behind the music, but it was perfect.

"Where did you learn to waltz?" She asked in amazement.

The boy had his bottom lip held between his teeth in concentration- the expression was so like his blonde mother, it struck Regina to the core, "David just taught me."

"Well he did a good job."

Behind them, Mary- Margaret had coaxed Emma into a waltz as well. The blonde wasn't familiar with the older dance style, but she was doing her best, and that didn't quite matter to Mary- Margaret. Because she finally got the dance she had been imagining since that first wedding when she was eleven years old and shared her first mother daughter dance with Regina. She was dancing with her own little girl at her wedding.

That evening, the reception lasted for long into the night- it had been awhile since Storybrooke had anything to celebrate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To the person who left the comment asking about if I was a Calzona fan- of course!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK fair warning, this is my second attempt at writing something R rated, no promises on how this turned out.

Emma was gathering the last of her clothes from out of the dresser when Regina walked out of the bathroom of their suite. It was the final day of their honeymoon - a two week trip to San Martin which they spent enjoying the beach, the sun and each other.

The blonde faltered in her packing as she took in her new wife's outfit of choice - a plush bathrobe with the sash untied and the glimpses that Emma could catch left her positive that her wife was wearing nothing underneath. Emma herself was dressed ready for a day at the beach.

"Ok, I know that the beach down the road is a nude one, but I'm going to have to ask you to put something else on if we're going out." The plan had been to spend their final day lying in the sun with Emma having intermittent poor attempts at surfing as they had done for most of the previous days, but clearly Regina had other ideas.

"I was thinking we could stay in today." Regina's voice dripped with suggestion as she sauntered over to the blonde, reveling in the way Emma's eyes remained transfixed to her hips, "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh?" The sheriff was seemingly incapable of more coherent speech as she tried to school her expression into anything other than her current goofy grin.

"Mhm." Regina played fully on her wife's distraction, stopping in her teasing walk only after she had completely invaded the blonde's space, "I have a three point argument sure to blow your mind."

It took all of Emma's willpower not to groan at the innuendo, but she resisted. She let her hands settle on her wife's hips, "And what might you be trying to achieve with this argument?"

"I want you to change your name."

Emma's smile only widened as her thumbs began tracing circles over the brunette's hips through the plush robe. "Didn't you tell me not a month ago that you didn't want me to do that?"

"I may have changed my mind." Regina smirked. She leant up to capture Emma's lips in a searing kiss while her hands toyed with the bottom of her tank top.

"So, what do you say?" The mayor asked, slipping her hands fully under the top and beginning to drag it upwards.

"I think I'm going to need some more convincing."

Emma decided that she could stand to spend her final honeymoon day being wooed by her wife.

Regina rose to the challenge, pulling Emma's shirt over her head and making quick work of her denim cutoffs as well, pausing for another leading kiss only when Emma was left in her bikini.

She trailed a finger along the edge of Emma's bikini bottoms, just at the end of her lower abs, "Are you convinced yet?"

It was all Emma could do to force out a strangled 'no' as Regina's other hand teased a breast through the thin material of the swim top.

"I guess I'll have to do better." Regina conceded, reaching behind her wife to undo the tie of her bikini top, letting it fall carelessly.

Before Regina could try to further convince the blonde, Emma turned the tables. She pushed the robe from Regina's shoulders, taking a more firm grip on the brunette's hips, before spinning them around so she could push the mayor backwards down onto the bed, "Still not fully convinced." Emma smirked.

When she felt Regina's hands pull her down to straddle her waist, the saviour complied while leaning in for a kiss. When Emma pushed her tongue into Regina's mouth, the brunette responded by palming Emma's breast. While the kiss deepened, Regina brought a knee up between her wife's legs who immediately ground down trying desperately to get more pressure.

It was Emma who eventually broke the kiss, reaching down to slide her swim bottoms down her legs. She kicked them off and was just about to go back to kissing her wife deeply when Regina surprised her and rolled them over. She smirked from her new position on top of Emma, "I thought I was supposed to be the one doing the convincing." She joked.

Regina began kissing her way down her wife's neck, stopping to pay extra attention to the juncture of her neck and shoulder - the area had already been marked well over the past two weeks and Emma was beginning to doubt the bruises would ever fade.

Once satisfied there, Regina gravitated lower, running her thumbs over her wife's sensitive nipples and gently nipped at the undersides of Emma's breasts with her teeth. This trip, if nothing else, had driven any doubt from Emma's mind that Regina really enjoyed marking what was hers.

When Regina began to move her mouth lower, she was stopped by Emma's hand on the back of her head. The brunette shot her wife a questioning look, prompting an uncharacteristically shy response (still the sheriff was not the most comfortable talking about sex). Emma blushed faintly, "I think if you did the thing, I might really be convinced."

Regina knew exactly what her wife was referring to, but she decided to make her elaborate anyway. She stopped in her downward trajectory and slowly, torturously slid herself up Emma's body so they were once again eye to eye, "What thing, dear?"

Emma squirmed, but she didn't falter under the brunette's intense gaze, "You know...that thing that you do."

"You're going to have to be more specific. I do many things." She teased, planting a kiss on the corner of Emma's lips before moving to the side to kiss the spot just under Emma's ear that made her shudder.

The blonde moaned in appreciation, tilting her head to give her wife full access to her purplish skin, "The special thing." Emma practically whined.

Regina smirked but finally gave in, "You mean the thing I taught David?"

"Mhm."

"Well, dear, why didn't you just ask?" She teased, already slipping one hand between them.

Regina teased two fingers through her wife's folds, pleasantly surprised at the copious amount of wetness which was already pooling. Emma responded immediately, thrusting her hips up into the brunette's hand.

"Please, baby, stop teasing me." Emma groaned.

Regina complied, gently easing two fingers into her wife who could barely bite back her moan at finally being filled.

"Does that feel good, Ms. Swan?" Regina asked as she began to pump her hand, thrusting deeply into Emma.

She shifted so she could straddle one of Emma's legs while she focused on the blonde below her. Her fingers swiped a few times against the rough patch of Emma's top wall, but it was all just building up.

Regina connected their lips as she slipped a third finger into her wife. Feeling Emma's tight walls clench at her was enough to prompt Regina to begin grinding against Emma's thigh, chasing her own release as she brought Emma closer to hers.

The sheriff broke their kiss when she slipped a hand down to tease at Regina's clit, "Please." Emma asked.

It wasn't often that the strong blonde was reduced to a begging mess, but moments like this gave Regina an unnatural sense of satisfaction. She gave in and careful to be gentle at first, Regina pushed her fingers in deeply. She let her thumb come up to rub at Emma's clit as her fingers hit what they were looking for.

Emma tensed at the first contact of Regina against her cervix. "Relax, dear." The mayor commanded in a soft tone that Emma had no choice but to comply with.

Once Regina felt her wife relaxing into her touch, she got bolder with her strokes. She swirled the tips of her fingers delicately over the blonde's cervix, coaxing her into release.

"Come on, let go." Regina said, brushing her thumb more insistently over Emma's clit.

The blonde did as she was instructed without a second thought, her own fingers brushing against Regina until they fell over the edge together.

Regina kept gently stroking Emma through her orgasm until she could withdraw her fingers. She dropped onto the bed beside the blonde, automatically curling into her side when Emma's arms went to encircle her.

It took a moment for Regina to regain her breath, but when she did, the teasing edge was evident, "So are you convinced now?"

Emma laughed, her heart was still thundering out of her chest while she lazily stroked her wife's hair, "I don't know, I might need some time to think it over."

Regina raised her head enough to glimpse the clock on the nightstand beside the bed, "Well, we have a few hours left until checkout, maybe you'll be convinced by then."

* * *

When their plane landed the next morning, the first thing that Emma did was stop by City Hall to grab the forms needed for a name change.

Mary- Margaret was less than excited. In fact, she was furious.

She got wind of Emma's intentions from Ruby who'd heard from Jack Tillman who'd heard from Archie who'd had coffee with the desk clerk at City Hall, who saw the documents when Emma returned them completed for both her and Regina to officially become Mrs. and Mrs. Swan- Mills. News traveled quickly in the small town.

Mary- Margaret was at the police station minutes later, steam practically rolling from her ears and ready to tear into her daughter. But her anger only grew as she found the station empty. Weighing her options, Mary- Margaret headed to the next most likely destination- the Mayor's office. It was nearly noon so it was probable that the women were having lunch together at City Hall as they often did.

The teacher stomped through the doors of City Hall, having walked there in record time. She completely disregarded Regina's secretary who told her that the mayor was in an important meeting, and didn't want to be disturbed. Instead, she shoved her way through the heavy wooden doors of the office.

Her face was pinched in anger as she finally found her daughter and Regina. They were thankfully, both decent, though the domesticity of the scene made her pause momentarily. Both women were seated on one of Regina's plush white couches. The mayor was leaning against one of the arms, with her feet thrown up in Emma's lap, and the blonde was massaging said feet through Regina's stockings. Regina had her reading glasses on and was vaguely scowling at a piece of paper she held before her while Emma was cut off mid sentence by her mother's entrance.

"If they hurt your feet so much, just wear normal shoes on the plane next time-" Emma didn't pause in her minstrations to her wife's feet, but she did give her mother a questioning look, "Mary- Margaret, do you need something?"

The teacher froze a moment, she hadn't actually thought past finding Emma or planned out what she would say. The result was an uncoordinated ramble, "I can't believe that you would take her over us, and we're your family for heaven's sake. Swan's not even anyone's name and this is just completely ridiculous. Did she make you do it?"

Mary- Margaret finished her rant with a glare at the mayor who wasn't even trying to hide her smirk.

"I'm sorry, what?" Emma still didn't move to stand or take Regina's feet out of her lap, but her eyes showed concern for her unintelligible mother.

"You took her name." Mary- Margaret stated simply.

It was Regina who answered this time, "That is what people tend to do when they get married, dear."

"I wasn't talking to you." The younger brunette quipped. Regina felt her eyebrow raise against her will at Mary- Margaret's fire, before the teacher turned back to Emma, "You took her name, and not ours. You're a Charming for Christ's sake and you still won't acknowledge it. You'd rather go by a made up name and one that just means a low economic status in the Enchanted Forest."

It was Regina who broke the contact with her wife, and stood from the couch. She seamlessly slipped back into her heels to ensure a decent height advantage as she rounded the couch to stare down Mary- Margaret, "Emma's an adult and she can make her own decisions. And I resent your insinuation that my surname is below yours."

It didn't escape either woman that the last time they had stood this close was two weeks ago at the wedding when they had been hugging in a bathroom. Their relationship never was static.

"Oh I'm sure there's many things you resent, Regina." Mary- Margaret fired back.

Finally, Emma came between the two brunettes. Literally as she placed a comforting hand on Regina's waist to draw her back, and figuratively as she cut in to assert her own opinion, "Mom, I understand that you want me to be the princess daughter you always dreamt of, but I was Emma Swan for twenty eight years. In the foster system, my name was the only thing that nobody could take from me."

She trailed her hand from Regina's waist to her arm, and down to interlock their fingers, "And I love Regina, I want everyone to know that she's mine and I'm hers."

Mary- Margaret's anger was momentarily impeded by the look the two women shared. It was so sickly sweet that she instantly knew what Regina had always complained about when Charming and her had made eyes at each other. But that didn't staunch her apprehension at the change in name of both women- the last she had heard, Regina had insisted that Emma not take her last name.

"You're sure she's not forcing you into this?" Mary- Margaret asked the blonde once more.

Again, it was Regina who spoke, "I can't believe you think I would pressure Emma into something like this. We had a mature, adult conversation about it."

A snicker escaped Emma's lips which her fist did little to conceal, "A mature, adult conversation, that's what you want to call that?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glad to hear that my attempt at a sexy scene was appreciated. Fun fact- the cervix may be located 3-6 inches back from one's opening and when one is not ovulating it is 'lower'. This anatomy lesson was brought to you by wikipedia :).

Autumn and Winter always hit Maine hard, and November brought with it a harsh wind that had residents of Storybrooke hunching nearly in half as they hurried along the road. The wind whipped stray papers from the gutters, making them dance down the road. It invaded every open nook and cranny. The wind forced each shutter closed and each door to be bolted tight.

It was nothing new in the small town, but Regina could feel that this winter would be different.

Up until today, everything had just been crossed fingers, hoping, and dreaming. Quiet prayers muttered in the dark where it wouldn't hurt as much if they didn't come true. It was a long and stressful process, they had nearly given up, yet with each other for strength they kept going. But today, after four grating months, everything finally became real.

It was with that knowledge in mind that Regina went about her preparations for the following day. When Regina bent over the open oven to check on the state of her baking pies, she knew her wife must have arrived home as a cold wind swept through her kitchen, playing with the bottom of her apron, and making the tips of her hair stir against her cheeks.

Sure enough, shortly after the door clicked shut and the wind died out in the house, Emma stomped into the kitchen. Her cheeks were a bright pink from the harsh gusts of wind that had assaulted her on the short walk from her bug to the door, and her hair was a mess beneath her knit wool cap.

She slumped down into a seat in a manner so ungraceful, it had to have taken effort. Dropping her head into her hands, she let out a dramatic sigh. Even the blonde's theatrics couldn't take away from the excitement practically getting ready to burst out of Regina, but she restrained herself.

"How was your day, dear?" Regina asked, leaning on her hands on the edge of the counter to regard the mess of blonde hair that was her wife.

Emma sat up properly, though refusing to remove her ridiculous hat, "It was quite possibly the longest day before a vacation ever." She mumbled, "Snow has been insufferable since she entered the third trimester."

Regina merely nodded in agreement, the teacher was normally just a passing annoyance, but during these final few weeks of her pregnancy, she had been something else entirely.

"She stopped by the station four times today!" Emma threw her hands up in exasperation, standing from her seat and beginning to make her way towards the fridge, "I know she's my mother and I should be supportive and all that, but seriously, four times in one day! God I need a drink. Do you want anything, Gina?"

A small smile crossed the brunette's face as she watched the wool hat slip precariously to the side of Emma's head, "No, thank you."

Emma popped out of the fridge a moment to regard her wife, "I know that you've got this massive Thanksgiving feast planned for tomorrow, but I'm sure one drink won't throw you off schedule." She teased lightly. Regina had taken the day off work to begin her dinner preparations.

"It's not the dinner I'm concerned about."

Emma didn't get is as she rummaged through the fridge some more, throwing over her shoulder, "If this is another one of your anti-beer moods where you lecture me about how you're not drinking that 'crap I dare call alcohol' I can run to your study and get you some cider."

The mayor shook her head though Emma couldn't see it from her position halfway in the fridge, "It's not about beer, Emma."

The blonde chuckled to herself before emerging triumphantly with a beery clutched in one hand, "Then take a break, and have a drink with me. We can cuddle on the couch, I'll only feel you up a little bit." She joked. The laugh fell off her lips, however, as she saw Regina looking at her with a meaningful stare.

"Emma, I can't have a drink with you."

Realization finally seemed to click as the sheriff's eyes widened almost comically, "You can't have a drink."

"There it is."

"Are you sure?"

Regina bit her lip slightly as she nodded in confirmation, "I thought something was different a week ago, but I'm finally sure. It worked."

Emma's reaction was instantaneous, and before she knew what was happening, Regina was engulfed in a tight hug, Emma's arms encircling her protectively. When they pulled back slightly, a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob escaped Emma's lips as tears welled in the corners of her eyes and a wide grin split her face.

"You're pregnant." Emma almost whispered, as if she was afraid saying it aloud would shatter the moment.

"We're pregnant." Regina corrected, cupping Emma's cheeks and using her thumbs to brush away the tears that were escaping down the blonde's face.

They basked in their happiness before the gears turned into high power in Emma's mind, "Should you be on your feet so much like this? You should rest, let's go sit down."

She managed to half drag, half lead Regina all of two feet before the brunette lightly tugged her arm back, causing her wife to halt, "Emma, I'm fine. I just can't do anything too strenuous and should probably avoid doing any more magic for a while."

Emma nodded, smiling at the irony in that statement. It had taken so much magic from the both of them to get to the point where they were now, "Right." She couldn't even attempt to downplay the wide smile that stretched her face. The blonde hugged her wife again, "I love you, so much."

"I love you too." Regina grinned into the sheriff's hair.

* * *

Emma trailed Regina into the kitchen, leaning against the door frame to watch with a soft smile as the brunette reached into the oven to remove the tamales. Emma was around the island in a second, standing with her hands out like she should be doing something.

"I should have gotten that." She said with a trademark goofy grin, "You shouldn't be lifting heavy things."

Regina barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "I'm pregnant Emma, not disabled. And I'm hardly more than a few weeks along, I can manage to take a pan out of the oven on my own."

"Right." Emma's grin didn't lessen any as she stepped forwards to trap Regina against the counter. The position was reminiscent of one months ago just before they came clean about their relationship to Mary- Margaret, "I'm just so excited for this." She splayed one hand over Regina's still flat stomach, "We're going to have a baby together."

At that, Regina couldn't contain her little chuckle, "You do remember that we already have a son, right?"

"Henry's more like a pet wolf at this age. He comes home, eats half the fridge, and we see him for an hour before bed if we're lucky."

"Well don't forget to take him for a walk tonight." Regina joked. She pressed a chaste kiss to her wife's lips before slipping out of her hold, "Now help me plate these tamales."

Emma obediently retrieved a platter and a serving spoon, handing them both over to Regina, "When are we going to tell Mary- Margaret?"

The mayor kept her face impassive as she played dumb, "That the tamales are ready? I think she'll be able to figure it out for herself when we walk back in there with them."

Emma harrumphed in playful annoyance before putting on her best puppy dog eyes and rubbing one hand gently over the small of Regina's back, "You know that's not what I was talking about." She watched her wife's face distort in a thinly veiled distaste, "I'm just so happy, I want to tell everyone."

"I know. It's just-" Regina couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. She instead focused her attention on transferring her tamales from the pan to the serving platter.

Emma observed the stiffness in Regina's posture and understood, "You're afraid."

"Can you blame me?" Regina was on the verge of tears when she met Emma's concerned emerald gaze, "What if something happens? It took so long to get to this point, I just get this feeling that I'm going to mess it up somehow. There's so many things that could happen and I can't help but think that the more people that know, the more that can go wrong."

It broke Emma's heart to know that Regina felt that way, but she could understand it, "You're not going to mess anything up, you're going to be amazing. But if that's how you feel, we won't tell anyone until you're ready."

"Thank you." Regina managed to keep her voice from cracking, but couldn't do much more than that.

Emma fondly stroked her wife's cheek, Regina let herself nuzzle into the warm touch, "I love you, so much."

"Love you too."

Regina smiled and they stood for a moment, savoring the warmth of each other and the kitchen. A loud eruption of laughter from the dining room brought them back to the present, and Regina stepped back, grabbing the platter of tamales and bringing it out of the kitchen, Emma trailing dutifully.

She set the plate down, and took her seat. Mary- Margaret was quick to notice the slight redness rimming Regina's eyes, since her pregnancy, she had become far more sensitive to other's emotions as well as her own. Henry was entirely oblivious as he was totally captivated by the food, he smiled at the addition to the table, "Are these your special tamales with three types of peppers?"

"And the special sauce." Regina confirmed.

The boy happily scooped one out onto his plate with a wide smile, "Awesome."

David looked at the dish skeptically, "I wasn't aware tamales were typical Thanksgiving dinner foods."

"They are in this house." Regina shot back.

"They're not even American."

"Neither are you."

Emma watched the exchange with mild amusement, Henry too absorbed in his food to notice.

"I was just saying-"

Regina rolled her eyes, David still hadn't gotten over the whole 'daughter married to the Evil Queen' thing, and he still clashed with the woman at every possible opportunity, "Don't even try and play the patriotic card on me Charming, your native land is a farm in the Enchanted Forest."

"And yours is where exactly? A tiny village on the outskirts of the kingdom?"

Emma, though thoroughly amused by the exchange, was at the end of her rope with their bickering, "Hey it's a holiday, aren't families supposed to drink too much, fight over meaningless politics, and bring up embarrassing memories?"

"Well, dear, in the Enchanted Forest, there were two political parties- the white kingdom and my kingdom so believe me, we are arguing politics. As for embarrassing stories, any recounting of your father's upbringing would make most men blush."

David opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Emma who had to make an effort not to laugh at her wife's statement as she laced their hands together under the table and tried a new approach, "So how's your class this year M&M?"

The brunette shook her head at the nickname, but replied anyway, "Great, the kids made hand turkeys and we hung them on the window yesterday."

A phone ringing in Regina's office drew the brunette up, Emma put a hand on her wife's arm to stop her, "Really, Gina, on the holiday?"

"It might be an emergency, I promise I won't take more than ten minutes."

"Alright."

True to her word, ten minutes later, Regina emerged from her office with a grim look on her face, "I need to run to the office really quickly and deal with something."

She was already walking through the kitchen to the front hall to get her coat and her boots, Emma was right on her heels.

"Do you have to?" Emma's pout was nothing short of adorable, but Regina was immune.

"There's a bad storm coming and I have to get the information on all the backup generators so that the town is prepared just in case."

"But Gina."

"No buts." She felt like she was talking to her son instead of her wife, "I'll be right back."

"I'll come with you." Mary- Margaret said, coming out of the dining room and grabbing her coat as well.

"No way preggers, I don't need you giving birth in my office."

"The baby is being restless and he seems to like car rides."

"Fine, but you had better not throw up in my Benz."

* * *

Regina stomped into the elevator, still unhappy that Mary- Margaret had insisted on joining her on the short trip to city hall. She jabbed the button for the proper floor and tapped her foot impatiently as the lift began its ascent.

"Listen, Regina, I-"

"Look Tubbers." The mayor whirled around to fix the younger brunette with a hard glare, "I don't know what your thing is with trapping me in enclosed spaces so you can pour your heart out, but I have no interest in whatever touchy-feely speech your pregnancy addled brain has cooked up." Regina knew she was horribly hypocritical for constantly bashing Mary- Margaret's pregnancy, but her own was distracting her from her usual higher quality of insult.

Mary- Margaret opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off as the elevator shuddered to a harsh stop. The lights flickered briefly before shutting off completely.

"What the hell?" Regina hissed in annoyance, slapping her palm ineffectually against the metal doors of the elevator as if they would spring open at her touch.

"What happened." Mary- Margaret's voice was small and scared from where she was scrunched in the corner.

"It would appear as though the storm knocked out the power." Regina snipped.

"So we're stuck here."

There was the distinct sound of quick breaths and regina swore she could hear the teacher's heart beat speed up, "Don't tell me you're suddenly claustrophobic."

"I'm not claustrophobic!" The young woman defended quickly, "I just don't like tight enclosed spaces."

Regina rolled her eyes though the gesture was lost in the darkness. They were silent a moment before the lift shuddered and dropped a couple of screeching inches. Snow released a small whimper and Regina could hear the younger woman began hyperventilating. She internally groaned in annoyance and began feeling her way along the wall of the elevator until her foot nudged what must be Snow huddled in the corner. Regina slid down the wall to sit beside the heavily pregnant woman and cautiously stroked her arm in reassurance.

"We just have to wait for Emma or David to realize we're missing and they will come and get us out." When the teacher showed no sign of calming down, Regina sighed, "Ok can you just take a deep breath, and we'll make it out of here. It's not that bad."

"Regina, I don't think I can wait for them to realize we're missing."

"What is it now?"

"My water just broke."

Immediately, the mayor was on her feet again, "Seriously?"

"No Regina, I thought it would be funny to fake labor while I'm stuck on an elevator with you with no electricity!"

"There's no need for you to take that tone with me."

Before Snow could fire back, she doubled over in pain as a contraction rolled through her, "Oh my god, I'm going to give birth in a dark elevator, on Thanksgiving with nobody but you to help me through. I need David, we practiced our breathing." Mary- Margaret's words were rushing out quickly, blending together.

"How about this, you keep breathing and everything will be fine."

"I can't do this, I need David."

Regina sighed, and conjured a ball of light in her palm, tossing it up gently so it hovered in the middle of the elevator, "There, now you aren't going to give birth in the dark."

The mayor blinked against the light as she took in Mary- Margaret sitting against the wall of the elevator. Neither said anything for a moment until something flashed in the teacher's eyes, "Wait, you have magic."

"Astute observation."

"You can poof us out of here."

"First of all, I do not poof, I transport." Regina lectured for not the first time, "And second of all, I can't get us out of here."

"Why not." The younger brunette demanded, clenching her fists as another contraction passed.

Regina crossed her arms protectively over her chest, "I could do the light because that's hardly a step above parlor magic, but I can't do anything more."

"You're one of the most powerful magical beings in any realm and you can't get us out of this damn elevator?" Mary Margaret hauled herself to her feet and stood toe to toe with the mayor, practically shouting, her voice reverberated in the small space.

"I can't do that kind of magic right now!"

"Why the hell not?"

Regina was getting flustered, not something she was used to. She couldn't control her slip up, "Because of the baby!"

The younger woman misunderstood, "You can transport us out of here, the baby's not born yet. It's just a few extra pounds!"

At this point, Regina moved past flustered to pissed, "It's not your Charming spawn that I'm concerned with."

"Then what baby-" Mary- Margaret stopped herself as her eyes widened upon recognition, her eyes darting down to Regina's stomach to look for confirmation. The subconscious protective hand that the mayor had pressed to her still flat abdomen was confirmation enough, "You have got to be kidding me."

"Emma wanted to tell you-"

"You have got to be kidding me."

"I know this is probably not what you were expecting-"

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Snow yelled, the vein in her forehead bulged dangerously and for a moment, Regina was afraid that it might burst.

Regina huffed and rubbed her temple, "Are you going to say anything else?"

"What do you want me to say, Regina?" Mary- Margaret asked rhetorically, "I'm in labor, we're trapped, and your pregnant with my grandchild!"

Regina dropped her gaze to the floor, slightly defeated. "Good point." She muttered to herself.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Mary- Margaret grabbed the railing for support as another contraction tensed her body, "Oh, Gods. Regina!"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Anything, distract me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is v emotional, buckle your seatbelts, and please secure small children.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is sassy, it's happy, and it's sad. It gets worse before it gets better, but I promise it will get better.

_Mary- Margaret grabbed the railing for support as another contraction tensed her body, "Oh, Gods. Regina!"_

_"What do you want me to do?"_

_"Anything, distract me."_

The mayor stepped closer to the younger woman, taking her hand and helping her sit back down on the floor of the elevator. Mary- Margaret leant heavily into her side, exhausted from the realization, their arguing, and the onset of her labor. The younger woman's babydoll dress pooled around her in a polka dotted poof that Regina really wanted to roll her eyes at. Instead, she allowed Snow to rest against her, reflexively, Regina ran her fingers through the teacher's short hair and Mary- Margaret relaxed into the touch.

"Don't think this changes a thing, we still need to have a very long talk about how in the hell you are carrying my grandchild." Snow muttered as her eyes drifted shut briefly.

The mayor couldn't believe her, and decided to ignore the thinly veiled threat, she could only deal with one pregnancy at a time.

"Do you remember the first time I braided your hair?"

"What?"

"I'm distracting you. Now hush." Regina said sternly. "You probably don't remember, but it was right after I married your father. You had a riding lesson and insisted that your hair be braided back so it wouldn't get tangled."

* * *

_"Do you have a hand maid that can do it for you?"_

_"No she, doesn't do it right." The stubborn girl stuck her bottom lip out in a pout, Regina knew she couldn't say no to that face. She sighed, and gave in, taking the silver brush from the young princess's hand._

_"How do you want it braided, dear?"_

_"In two plaits, down the sides, and then they meet in the middle and become one."_

_Regina had never been very good at braiding hair, but she motioned for the girl to sit at a tall backless chair in front of the mirror so she could take a crack at the elaborate hair style._

_As she began brushing through the girl's hair, Snow animatedly chattered, "My mom always said not to go riding with your hair down, otherwise it turns into a rat's nest. And I really don't want rats living in my hair because it's starting to get really long."_

_Regina couldn't help but smile at the girl's innocence, "Mhm." She had managed to part Snow's hair evenly and began one braid at the crown of her head._

_"Did you see Princess Elizabeth's baby when she came by yesterday?" Snow didn't even pause to hear Regina's answer, "He was so cute. I can't wait to have a baby of my own. I think I would like to have a lot of them, I love kids."_

_"I'm sure you'll be a lovely mother."_

_"I think so too." Snow easily agreed, trying not to nod her head so she wouldn't mess up the braid, "Are you done yet?"_

_"Almost, dear."_

_"How come you don't have any kids?"_

_Regina snorted, not even thinking about her reply, "I'm a little young for children."_

_"But you're my mother now." Snow was clearly confused._

_"Right." The queen took a moment as she focused on joining the two braids at the base of Snow's head and turning six strands back into three, "Well I guess I just never found the right person to have children with."_

_"What about that boy?"_

_Regina's fingers faltered, she hadn't expected the princess to bring that up, "Daniel."_

_"Yeah, what about Daniel?"_

_The queen breathed through her lie, "He wasn't the right person."_

_"But my father is?"_

_Regina finished the braid and tied it off with a ribbon, "I don't know about that, but I do know that I'm very happy to be your mother."_

_From that point on, Regina became singularly responsible for fixing Snow's hair._

* * *

By the time Regina finished her story, Mary- Margaret's contractions were coming quick with little time in between. Her breathing was short, and they both knew it was just a matter of time before it was  _time_.

"I remember that." Mary- Margaret admitted, "I also remember how horrible that braid turned out."

"It was my first try!"

The teacher laughed shortly, before it being cut off by another contraction, "Tell me something else."

"You know your pixie cut?"

"Mhm?"

"Well when I first cast the dark curse and I was thinking of what fate I would sentence you to, I couldn't stand you with your long hair. It was too painful a reminder of our time together in the Enchanted Forest."

Mary- Margaret adjusted herself so she could glare at the ex- Evil Queen, "You cursed away my hair?"

"Well when you put it like that."

The teacher grabbed her hand and squeezed through her next contraction, "You're unbelievable."

"I did try to make amends though." The older woman defended herself.

"What?"

Regina sighed, hating how weak her confessions were making her seem, "You're an elementary school teacher."

"And?"

"And I could have made you anything. Don't you think if I truly hated you I would make you an employee of a sewage company or something?" Regina was back to absently running her fingers through the woman's hair, "I figured I was taking away your child, but I could give you twenty five others to teach."

"You have some twisted logic."

Regina knew Mary- Margaret wouldn't have the spine to say half the things she was saying now if it weren't for the fact that every few minutes she would squeeze the mayor's hand in a death grip because of a painful contraction, so she let the comments slide.

"So I've been told."

The two sat quietly for a moment, Mary- Margaret focusing solely on her breathing while Regina's thoughts ran rampant. It was after a particularly hard contraction when Regina could have sworn she heard something in her hand pop from the teacher's incessant squeezing that Mary- Margaret pushed her bangs back in defeat, "Regina, I think it's time."

"Oh Gods." Regina stood from her spot on the floor and paced the small length of the elevator twice, "Alright, get yourself ready. There's still time for Emma and David to come, but I think the baby will arrive first. Your husband never was very punctual."

"Ok, turn around."

Regina stared at the woman with a raised eyebrow, "You're about to give birth in an elevator. This isn't exactly the time for modesty, dear."

"Just do it please."

With Mary- Margaret's pleading eyes, Regina had no choice but to turn around and face the opposite corner. She heard a rustling before the teacher finally gave her the all clear, she was sitting in her corner, leaning against the two walls with her pink cardigan draped over her knees.

"Ok, um how are you feeling?" Regina asked, still standing against the far corner as if she were afraid of Snow.

"Like I'm about to push a tiny human out of a tiny hole."

"Right."

The women fell into an awkward silence broken by Snow's next contraction.

"How far apart are they now?" Regina asked.

"I don't know, I seem to have left my stopwatch at home."

The sass was all that the mayor needed to snap back to her usual sense of control, she closed the distance across the elevator and kneeled in front of Mary- Margaret, "Ok, I'm just going to take a look and see what's going on."

"It's not a budget meeting, you don't need to check on the status of things."

"You lived in a tree with seven men. How much do you know about childbirth?"

Mary- Margaret glared, but lifted her sweater in her consent for Regina to look at the 'status of things'.

The teacher soon grew impatient, "Well?"

"You're dilating at what I'm assuming is a good rate considering how long it's been since your contractions began. If you continue at this rate I expect you to be fully dilated in about fifteen minutes."

Mary- Margaret stared in wonder, "Regina Mills, back alley midwife?"

"You don't know the half of it." The older woman winked.

"Tell me."

* * *

_Regina wandered through the halls of the palace, King Leopold and Princess Snow were away on their yearly trip to the small cabin near the winter palace. The queen had been invited along, but she preferred to avoid her new husband as much as possible and chose to stay behind. It was proving to be a good choice as an unexpected snowstorm swept the kingdom left the king and his daughter stuck at the cabin for longer than expected._

_She rounded a corridor, exploring the very farthest reaches of the castle when she heard a loud shout followed by quiet reassurances. Regina followed the voices to a dimly lit room, she saw two women inside, one heavily pregnant and sitting on the small bed in the room, the other bustling about with clothes and bottles. Regina stood lamely in the doorway watching the scene unfold until the bustling one noticed her. Regina recognized the woman as Snow's main hand maid._

_"Highness, you shouldn't be down here." The new queen flushed in embarrassment but didn't leave quite yet._

_"Is she giving birth?"_

_"She will be soon."_

_"And you've no midwife?"_

_"The midwife was caught in the storm." The servant went back to her preparations before catching sight of Regina still hovering in the door. Her heart softened, the young woman may be the queen, but she was just barely older than a child herself, "Well come in then, make yourself useful, she's not going to bite you." The maid chuckled looking to the servant girl in the bed, but she was soon back rustling through the room grabbing various tonics._

_Regina did as she was told, standing halfway between the bed and the door, the maid laughed at her hesitance, "Check how far she's dilated."_

_"Excuse me?"_

_"You've never seen a child born before." It was a statement, not a question but Regina nodded anyway, "Just feel her cervix and see how many fingers across the opening is."_

_When the queen made no move to do that, the maid huffed and did it herself, "I think you're just about ready."_

_From that point forth, Regina's role was demoted to standing beside the laboring woman and holding her hand through the long and painful process._

* * *

When Regina finished her story, she peeked back beneath the cardigan, "Alright, you're fully dilated, you know what that means."

"Time to push?"

"Nearly, dear." Regina situated herself on her knees in a strong stance across from the teacher and allowed Snow to rest her feet on her thighs so she would have something solid to press against, "Once the baby crowns, then you will push."

Regina's tone was reassuring but left little room for debate, it wasn't a question, it was a statement, Snow would push whether she wanted to or not.

Regina slipped her blazer off, setting it aside for later, "Do you remember your breathing?"

Mary- Margaret could only nod as the pain of her baby crowning overtook her worse than any contraction thus far, "Just focus on your breathing and push when I tell you."

Regina shifted the pink sweater so she had an unobstructed view but so it was still draped in the illusion of modesty.

She felt the very top baby's head, glad at least that it wasn't breached and was in the correct position, "Alright, a little push now."

She cradled the emerging head with one hand, relinquishing the other to Mary- Margaret to squeeze.

Together they got through the delivery of the head, pausing briefly for Mary- Margaret to breathe and Regina to make sure the baby rotated before they delivered the shoulders,"On the bright side, the first thing your child will wear before it's sentenced to a life of disturbingly frilly garments, is a reasonable suit jacket." Regina joked, with a smile before getting back down to business, "Ok nearly there, I need a big push from you now, Snow."

The younger woman squeezed her eyes shut as she poured all of her energy into delivering the child. Her feet were braced against Regina's thighs, pushing off like one might do with stirrups in a hospital. With a strangled grunt and a final push, the baby slid free and Regina caught the infant in her blazer.

"It's a girl." She said in awe as Mary- Margaret slumped exhausted in her corner.

"Let me see her." She asked watching as Regina's expression went from wonder to terror in seconds flat, "Regina?" The mayor didn't respond, and made no move to hand the child over, "Regina what's wrong?"

Instead of replying, Regina set the girl down in the jacket on the floor of the elevator. She pressed two fingers to the small baby's sternum and compressed gently five times before pausing and watching for the tiny chest to rise on it's own.

"Why isn't she crying, Regina, is she breathing?"

"No." The monosyllabic response was followed by five more quick chest compressions.

Mary- Margaret was growing hysterical,

"What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know."

"Regina, you have to do something! You have to save her!"

"I'm trying!"

"You're not trying hard enough!"

Regina went through one more unsuccessful round of chest compressions during the shouting match before turning to the younger woman with defeated eyes.

"No, that's not it!" Mary- Margaret practically screamed, "Try something else! Don't give up."

In her desperation, Regina turned back to the newborn, she put one hand flat against the girl's abdomen. Her long thin fingers reached across the entire expanse.

Regina closed her eyes and felt her magic flow through her to the baby, her initial shock of magic wasn't enough, but she couldn't stop. She dug in deeper, relinquishing all the magic she could summon into healing the infant.

With a gasp, she drew away her hand, she slumped down slightly, her fingertips burned, her heart was beating out of her chest, and she couldn't catch her breath, but none of that seemed to matter when a wet cry broke the silence.

Regina pushed away her own fatigue and inspected the child again. She was crying and fussing, a healthy pink began to fill her cheeks, the only evidence of the ordeal left on the child was five burn marks.

They weren't particularly irritated nor raised as new burns typically are. Instead they were dark brown and red swirls marking where Regina's fingertips had pressed into the girl's skin. It was clear the marks would scar into the perfect imprint of Regina's right fingerprints across the baby's abdomen. But that didn't seem to matter as the mayor expertly swaddled the child in her expensive coat and handed her over to Snow.

"You did it." She breathed in disbelief, looking down at her new baby.

"Yeah, I did." Regina breathed, leaning her head back against the wall of the elevator to try and catch her breath.

The women both sat against their respective walls quietly, the only sounds filling the elevator was their labored breathing and the occasional cries of the new royal.

Without warning, the elevator shook and the lights flickered back on, making Regina's orb irrelevant and it soon vanished. Mary-Margaret had tears in her eyes as they realized the elevator was moving safely back to ground level, "Thank you, Regina."

The mayor didn't get a chance to respond as the lift halted and the doors slid open revealing a flushed Emma and David.

The savior's eyes landed first on her wife, the green orbs widening as she took in the blood and indiscernible mess covering her wife's clothing, "What ha-"

"Oh my gods." David beside her stepped into the lift, mesmerized by the sight of his wife and new daughter.

Regina passed him as she pushed out of the elevator, "Take Mary- Margaret to the hospital, I'll meet you there soon, I just need to run home and tidy up."

Her tight smile let Emma know that the mayor was definitely not alright but she didn't want to talk about it right now. Whether it was the shock of finding her mother in an elevator with a baby, or the relief that both women seemed unharmed, Emma relented, "Alright. Henry's in the bug, we'll bring him with us."

If Regina didn't want to talk about it with Emma, she probably wouldn't want to talk about it with their son.

The brunette just nodded and went out to her own car, Emma didn't notice how Regina's pencil skirt was stained a far darker red in the back, and she didn't notice the slight stilt in her walk.

Once she was safely home and locked in the bathroom, Regina peeled her clothing off, each layer confirming her fears more and more. Without pause, once she had ridden herself of the last article of clothing, she stepped into the shower and turned the water on hot. For a while, she just stood under the spray watching the water run scarlet down the drain and letting the stream pinken her skin. In the beginning she didn't cry, it was only when she heard her phone ringing from the pocket of her skirt, carelessly strewn on the bathroom floor.

'At Last' by Etta James filled the bathroom, it was the first song she and Emma danced together to at their wedding and it was the blonde's ringtone.

As the first bars of the song washed over Regina, and she realized she would have to be the one to tell Emma, she couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She cried in large gut- wrenching sobs. She cried until her eyes were swollen and puffy and her breath was coming in gasps, she cried until the hot water ran out and she stood to be pelted by the cold spray, she cried until the bleeding finally began to slow and the coiling of her stomach relaxed.

When she could regain any semblance of control, Regina shut off the water and stepped out of the shower. During her sobbing Emma had tried to call her four more times and had left many text messages. Rather than sift through them now, the mayor toweled off, not caring that she left the plush white towel spotted with red, and dressed herself in clean slacks and a blouse.

She drove to the hospital silently, her nerves steeled for what was to come. It was with relative ease that she found Mary- Margaret's room, but to her surprise the teacher was alone.

"Emma and David took Henry down to the cafeteria." Mary- Margaret explained seeing Regina pause in the doorway.

The mayor nodded and remained hovering awkwardly. Snow noticed and nodded to one of the chairs bedside, Regina gratefully sat, "How are you?"

"Good."

"And the baby?"

"Eva Regina of the White Kingdom" Mary- Margaret filled in the girl's name, smiling just at being able to say it, "She's healthy, she's in the nursery now."

The mayor was temporarily stunned that Mary- Margaret had chosen to name the baby daughter after her, but that wore off as her next concern sprung back to mind, "What did you tell them?"

"Nothing yet, which has been hard. David can't believe he missed the birth and Emma is so afraid, still."

The knowledge that her wife was concerned, made Regina choke up a bit, "The magic-" Regina trailed off, not quite knowing what she wanted to ask.

"The only remaining trace is the burns."

Regina nodded and they fell quiet. Snow watched with concern as Regina ran a hand across her stomach and her lips tilted downward in a slight grimace of pain.

"I thought you said you couldn't do any magic, because of your baby."

"I did." Regina's eyes dropped to the floor, not strong enough to face this conversation head on.

"So were you-"

"I was right."

Mary- Margaret's eyes widened in understanding and she reached out to pull Regina's hand from her lap. The older woman had been clenching her fist so hard that her nails broke the skin of her palm, leaving crescent shaped cuts. Snow smoothed them over as she comfortingly held Regina's hand, the mayor making no move to pull away.

"I lost the baby." Regina whispered so quietly, unable to stop the tears breaking down her cheeks at the first admission aloud.

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be, it's not your fault."

"But if I hadn't come with you-"

"Don't go there." Regina stood from the chair and stepped closer to the bed, taking both of Snow's hands in hers, "There's too many what ifs. What if the elevator hadn't stopped, if there hadn't been a storm, if we had taken the stairs. Don't do that, this isn't your fault."

"But-"

"No buts. It happened." Regina swiped a finger beneath her eyes, not missing how hypocritical it was that she was telling the younger woman not to blame herself when that's exactly what she was doing. A few tears dropped out of Mary- Margaret's eyes as well and they cried together.

Regina couldn't stop thinking it was her fault though she knew, given the chance, she wouldn't change her actions, "I have to tell Emma. She's going to be crushed."

"You can do it."

Regina shook her head, and laughed humorously, "She is so attached to three weeks worth of cells."

Mary- Margaret knew that Regina was trying to distance herself from the loss so it wouldn't hurt as much, "She'll understand."

Nodding, Regina grabbed some Kleenex from the bedside table, handing a couple to Snow and using the rest to fix herself up.

No words were spoken between the two until Emma returned from her trip to the cafeteria, she smiled upon seeing Regina, "David and Henry went to the nursery to look at Eva."

Her gaze flickered between her mother and her wife until Regina stood, she didn't say anything yet, Mary- Margaret gave her hand one last reassuring squeeze and the mayor took Emma's arm and led her from the room.

Mary- Margaret watched through the window as Regina brought Emma to the opposite side of the hallway. The brunette crossed her arms over her stomach as she began talking. Snow watched her lips move but couldn't make out the words, she watched the expression on her daughter's face go from concerned to sad to unequivocally broken. By the time Regina finished, Emma was leaning heavily on the hand gripping the rail attached to the wall, and she had tears streaming down her face. Regina was barely keeping it together as Emma wrapped her in a fierce hug. The blonde buried her face in the nape of Regina's neck and the couple cried as they mourned the loss of their almost child.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, don't kill me! I swear that there will be a good ending, just bear with me till then. I'll get the final chapter up soon.  
> Medical facts of the day- 15-20% of all pregnancies end in a miscarriage, generally very early on, and usually caused by a genetic abnormality in the zygote. Also, strenuous activity and stress, have not been linked with miscarriages. Magic however, has a very high correlation with miscarrying, obviously.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I'm blown away by the amazing comments left on that last chapter. Here's the final chapter, hopefully you will enjoy it.   
> Your medical fact for the day is not really medical at all, but- Couples who experience a miscarriage are 22% more likely to break up than those who do not.

"I can't have this conversation again!"

"This isn't a conversation! It never is!" Emma angrily ran a hand through her wild curls, not even noticing when the setting of her wedding ring got caught and ripped out a few strands in the process, "All it ever is is you yelling at me and disregarding my opinion and my feelings!"

"What feelings? You aren't entitled to feelings over this!" Regina was forever grateful that Henry was at a sleepover and didn't have to be witness to the shouting match taking place in the middle of the kitchen.

"When are you going to understand you didn't go through it alone? You aren't the only one who suffered a loss, Regina!"

Emma's glare hardened as she watched the mayor set her jaw. She didn't remember what comment or was which prompted their latest argument. All she knew was that these days it took less and less to set Regina off.

"I can't do this anymore, Emma."

The blonde was caught by surprise at the quiet and defeated tone her wife had taken.

"Can't do what?"

"This fighting, this tip- toeing around. I just can't. Maybe I should go, I can stay with Katherine for a few days until-"

"Until you make up your mind to leave me for good?"

Emma's childhood was hallmarked by abandonment in the foster care system and despite all reasonable thought telling her she was being irrational, she was a runner.

"No, Emma, that's not what I-"

"I think that's exactly what you meant. You know what, I'll just go."

She turned on her heel and walked purposely from the room.

"Emma!"

Regina tried to run after her, but by the time she made it to the front door, Emma was already in her bug with the engine started, pulling away from the curb.

She watched her wife drive away, once the bug was out of sight she stepped back into the mansion, pulling the door shut behind her. Smiling mockingly from the coffee table beside the door was a framed photo from the wedding. It was taken unknowingly right after Emma had pushed a bit of hair behind Regina's ear. The sheriff had let her hand linger so it was just cupping Regina's cheek and the two smiled lovingly at each other.

It was Regina's favorite photo from their wedding, but now it made her heart ache even worse. In rage, Regina grabbed the frame and hurtled it across the entryway. It hit the opposite wall with a satisfying crunch as the glass shattered and the metal bent. Regina followed it to the floor as she sunk down, sliding with her back against the wall and curled herself around her knees, crying softly into her pencil skirt.

* * *

"Gina, noise." Emma mumbled tiredly, burying her face into the brunette's sleep tousled hair.

"What?"

"Gina, there's a noise downstairs." She clarified, snuggling into the warmth of her wife as she did so.

"And?"

"Could be a burglar."

Emma was mostly asleep as she tightened her grip on the mayor. Regina waited and listened until she heard the distant sound of knocking on the front door. Rolling her eyes, Regina pried Emma's arms off from around her abdomen and scooted closer to the edge of the bed, stepping into her slippers. She gave one last look at her wife who had already stolen her pillow to cuddle with in her absence, "I'm so glad I have such a strong, brave, savior here to protect me against anything that goes bump in the night." The mayor drawled as she shuffled over to the closet to grab a sweater before heading downstairs to investigate the pounding.

As she neared the door, she could make out high pitched wails that sounded like someone was being murdered on her doorstep. When she opened the heavy oak, she found that to not be so far from the truth. Mary- Margaret was there with red rimmed eyes, holding Eva in her carseat still.

"Mary- Margaret, what are you-"

"I'm sorry, I know it's late. But Eva wouldn't stop crying, and I tried to rock her and I tried to feed her. But she wouldn't and they say to just put her down and step away and take a break so I did and she wouldn't stop. And David got so mad when I said I was going to come over here because we should be able to take care of our own baby, and so I just left and Eva only quieted down a bit when I told her we were going to visit Auntie Gina and I just can't do it."

Regina's eyes widen and she felt any vestige of sleep leave her body as she took in that a majority of the tears at this point seemed to be coming from Snow and not from her six month old niece.

"Alright, come in, give me Eva, and you go sit on the couch. We'll be back in a few minutes with some tea."

Mary- Margaret did as instructed, sniffling pathetically as she handed over the car seat and the crying child. Regina rubbed her arm reassuringly before taking Eva into the kitchen. She set the car seat down on the kitchen island before crossing to the sink to fill up the kettle. Eva's wailing had subsided to insistent cries that, while unpleasant, were better than the screaming she had been producing earlier.

"Eva, dear, your mother is going to go crazy- well crazier than usual." She said, setting the kettle on a burner, "So I need you to take a few deep breaths, and stop this nonsense."

Regina's tone was firm, but gentle as she unstrapped the girl from the car seat and laid her down on her shoulder, rubbing Eva's back in soothing circles, she bounced the infant up and down and hummed a bit. Regina didn't know what it was, she didn't have a magic touch when it came to babies, Henry didn't even take to her quite so quickly, but from the first day in the hospital merely Regina's presence in the room could calm Eva. When the girl developed diaper rash in her third week, Regina was the only one able to touch her sensitive skin without the girl bursting to tears. Since then, Snow deferred to Regina whenever Eva was particularly fussy.

By the time the kettle whistled, Eva's cries had subsided to wet murmmers, "That's better." Regina cooed, still holding Eva with one arm, and using the other to pour out the hot water for the tea.

She managed to balance both mugs, and the baby without spilling a drop for the walk from the kitchen to the living room where she found Mary- Margaret with tears drying on her cheeks.

"Ok, here's the tea, Eva's nearly asleep." She sat down, shifting to cradle the girl more comfortably in the crook of her arm as she regarded the teacher who gratefully sipped her tea, "I think she's just about tired herself out by now."

Eva fussed a bit trying to burrow closer into Regina before opening and closing her mouth soundlessly. The mayor easily recognized it as Eva's quest for her pacifier, but seeing that Snow hadn't brought the diaper bag, she offered her pinky for the baby to suck on for now.

Mary- Margaret nodded and looked enviously at how comfortable her daughter was snuggled against Regina.

"She's completely in love with you." Snow said, trying to keep the jealousy from her voice.

Regina smiled, knowing the truth in the statement, "That's one thing she's got in common with her big sister."

Mary- Margaret rolled her eyes and smacked Regina lightly on the thigh, "I knew you were always after my daughters."

"What can I say, you make it so easy."

They didn't say anything further while Mary- Margaret got a hold on her tears, and Regina let Eva chew on her pinky- grateful that the girl had not yet started teething. The mayor let Mary- Margaret sit quietly for a bit before prodding her, "So, I take it you're feeling a little stressed lately."

"That's an understatement." Mary- Margaret laughed, "I always thought that once Eva was here, everything would come naturally. You know, but it's been six months and I still haven't felt anything close to a maternal instinct."

"Snow, you know that's not true-"

"I can't even comfort my baby when she's crying."

Regina smiled, "It took me nearly eight months before I felt like I knew what I was doing with Henry. Sometimes I still feel like I don't." She ran her fingers over the soft fluff of curly hair on Eva's head, "Nobody tells you how difficult motherhood is, but you'll figure it out."

"I feel like I can't do anything right."

"We all have those days. Then you have a moment when you look at your kid, and you just know that everything will work out. I mean look at Henry, he had the Evil Queen as a mother and he turned out alright."

"You're not the Evil Queen."

"The point still remains." Mary- Margaret nodded, smiling fondly at her daughter. Regina shifted the girl a little bit so she was situated more soundly.

"Why did you do it, Regina?" Mary- Margaret didn't look at the mayor as she asked, keeping her eyes focused on the small infant who's own eyes were drifting shut.

"Do what?"

"In the elevator. You knew the risks, but you did it anyway."

"How could I not?" Regina asked rhetorically, "I know we aren't in the enchanted forest anymore, but you will always be my step daughter. You're still the girl I saved from a runaway horse." She shifted the now sleeping Eva to hand over to Snow, "I may not be the best step mother, but I would do anything for you Snow, no matter the sacrifice."

Regina watched Snow carefully cradle the back of her baby's head as the girl continued to sleep soundly, "You're going to do fine, Snow. Your mother would have been so proud of you."

Mary- Margaret laughed softly, "How do you know?"

"Because I am, so incredibly proud of you every single day."

Wordlessly, Mary- Margaret pulled Regina into a fierce one- armed hug, the force of the action woke Eva. Thankfully, she didn't burst into tears, instead she just stared up at her mother in question.

"You're going to get your happy ending one day, Regina."

"I think I already have."

Regina beamed, she couldn't maintain eye contact with the happy teacher for too long though, and she awkwardly dropped her gaze to her tea and took a sip.

"I can't believe how lucky I am." Mary- Margaret said after a bit. She was watching her restless baby in awe, "Her eyes are so green."

"Oh yeah, you might want to cool it down with the praising Eva in front of Emma for a little bit." The mayor said, remembering the interaction at the diner last week.

* * *

_"Look at how precious she is!" Ruby cooed, smiling as baby Eva waved happily from her mother's lap. It was the infant's newest trick and she was showing it off to everyone she met._

_Emma watched with a sour expression from the counter where she was waiting for the waitress so she could pay for breakfast. The blonde's frown was not unnoticed by her wife who excused herself from the gaggle of women fawning over Eva to go comfort Emma._

_"It's not even that impressive." Emma huffed as Regina leant against the counter beside her, "Anybody can wave, I don't get what's so cute about it."_

_"She's a baby, dear. Everything is cute when it comes from a baby."_

_Regina wrapped her arm around Emma's waist in reassurance, "Still, it's not that big of a deal."_

_The mayor rolled her eyes, "Are you really jealous of a six month old?"_

_"No! I'm just." She trailed off, watching with envy the pride on Mary- Margaret's face as she flaunted her new baby, "Alright, maybe I'm a little jealous but it's not a big deal."_

_"Emma Swan." Regina began lovingly, "You are the savior, you have fought dragons, you are incredibly attractive, and you are married to one of the hottest women in Storybrooke." The sheriff smiled as her wife complimented herself, "You have nothing to be jealous of."_

_"Oh alright." She conceded._

_"Thank you."_

_The pair stood comfortably for a while, watching as the women swarmed around Mary- Margaret showered affection down on the infant. Regina was internally celebrating her victory in assuring her wife's confidence._

_"I guess she is kind of adorable." Emma admitted with a reluctant smile._

* * *

"I had no idea." Mary- Margaret said, biting her lower lip in concern.

"Don't worry about it. Emma can be a bit juvenile at times."

The two fell into a comfortable silence, broken moments later by a soft snore from Eva. She had finally fallen asleep in her mother's arms.

"You did it." Regina praised softly.

Mary- Margaret's proud grin was nearly blinding, "I can do this."

"You can."

The teacher wiped her eyes one last time, "I'm sorry that I just barged over here like this. I'll just get out of your hair."

"You know you're always welcome here. Are you sure you're good to drive home, it's nearly one."

"Yeah, driving is relaxing, and I should put Eva down in her crib."

They stood, Regina taking the mugs into the kitchen where she exchanged them for the car seat, "Drive carefully, and never hesitate to call or come over."

"Thank you, for everything."

Regina watched on was Mary- Margaret retreated down the walkway and buckled Eva safely into her car seat. Once she saw the taillights of Mary- Margaret's car turn the corner she went back into the mansion, locking the door behind her. She found Emma dead asleep, still curled around the stolen pillow.

She kicked off her slippers and pulled the sweater over her head, sliding into the bed, she yanked her pillow from Emma's arms. The blonde just grumbled in protest, her arms quickly finding Regina's waist to wrap around and draw in close. Emma was like a koala when she slept, and it was a rare night when Regina didn't awaken to find her wife with her arms and even the occasional leg wrapped tightly around her.

"Emma." Regina whispered after a few moments of enjoying the security of the embrace. She was never a big cuddler until she got involved with the savior.

"Yeah Gina?"

"I think I'm ready to try again."

Emma remained as she was, and brought one of her feet to wrap around Regina's calf, "I thought you said you were tired and you didn't wanna do it again tonight. Besides its like midnight, we can have shower sex in the morning instead?"

The brunette rolled her eyes and turned herself around in the safety of Emma's arms, "I wasn't talking about having sex, Emma. I think I'm ready to try for a baby again."

Green eyes snapped more fully open, all remaining tiredness disappearing, "Are you sure, you don't feel pressured or anything?"

They had been meeting weekly with Archie since their explosion and Emma's short stay at her parents apartment. Because of their sessions, Emma knew how important it was that she give Regina the time and space she needed to heal, "I'm sure. I want this, with you."

* * *

Regina huffed in annoyance as the front door bounced back at her after she tried to push it open. Throwing her weight more solidly against it, she shoved it all of the way open and stepped through the entryway. As she suspected, a large pair of tennis shoes sat behind the door.

"Henry!" She called towards the upstairs, "How many times have I told you not to leave your shoes out in the front hall?"

"Sorry mom!" He yelled back, not coming out of his room.

Regina rolled her eyes, shrugging out of her jacket and hanging it up. She glared at the blazer as if it had personally offended her, and to some extent it did. She then stepped out of her flats. The omission of her heels was the only outward concession Regina had made in the past few months. In only her stocking clad feet, she padded into the kitchen, a smile creeping into her face at the sight of her three favorite girls.

Emma had a hot pink plastic spoon and was trying to coax some green mush into Eva's mouth. There was more of the food covering Emma, the child, and the high chair they kept at the mayoral mansion, than Regina assumed had actually been eaten. Mary- Margaret was at the stove, stirring a red sauce to go with the pasta simmering on a back burner.

"Are you trying to feed our goddaughter or turn her into my sister?" Regina joked, crossing the kitchen to grab two wet wipes. She handed one to Emma to clean herself off with while she focused on tidying the giggling infant. The girl had the green mess everywhere from the front of her shirt to the top of her unruly brown curls. Eva had inherited a mix of the same curls as her sister, and Mary- Margaret's dark brunette hair which, with the trademark Charming chin left the eighteen month old with a striking profile already despite her chubby cheeks.

"Hey it was going really well until someone sneezed."

"You should cover your mouth when you do that, dear."

"I meant Eva!"

"Of course, blame the child."

Regina succeeded in cleaning most of the green mush from the little girl's face before she took up the spoon and sat in Emma's abandoned chair.

"How was your day, Regina?" Mary- Margaret asked, breaking the couple from their friendly spat.

"Horrendous. The air conditioning unit at the nunnery broke and, surprise, LeRoy showed up drunk to repair it." Regina paused in her story and gave the spoon to Eva. She gave the toddler a stern look, all it took was one raised eyebrow from her favorite 'Auntie Gina' for the girl to obediently scoop more of the green mess- mushed peas- into her mouth, "Do you know how annoying an ex-fairy can be if she has to go without AC in the middle of June?"

"I can only imagine." Mary- Margaret laughed. Since school was out, she spent most of her afternoons at the mansion or the apartment with Eva and Henry. The whole Charming- Mills clan would share dinner at whichever location. Since the elevator birth, Regina and Snow had never been closer. Though they didn't always like each other, now it was clear that they would always love each other.

"Eva has pea stains all over her shirt, have you got another with you?" Regina didn't approve of mess even if it was on her adorable goddaughter.

"Yes, it's in the diaper bag."

Regina grabbed a fresh diaper and the spare shirt before lifting Eva out of her booster seat to go and change her in the downstairs bathroom.

Emma stepped up when her wife had the girl situated on her hip, "I can do that, you should sit down, relax."

The mayor smiled, it was the same conversation they had at least once a day now, "Emma, I'm fine, I can do this. Strenuous activity doesn't cause miscarriages especially not this late in a pregnancy."

"I know, it's just-"

Regina cut her wife off by leaning forward and connecting their lips in a brief kiss, "Emma, I'm bigger than a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I can't close any of my blazers, LeRoy keeps asking if I'm having twins, and my feet are fat but I can't know how fat they've gotten because I haven't been able to see them in two months. I can change Eva."

Mary- Margaret snickered from the stove as she shuffled things around and found a colander to drain the pasta.

"Besides, we all know how well it went last time you changed Eva's diaper." Regina smirked.

"That wasn't my fault, she peed on me!"

"And in a year and a half, she's never peed on me."

"You say that like it's an accomplishment."

"How many times?"

"It's not that many."

"How many times, Emma?"

The blonde blushed to the tips of her ears as she finally gave in, "Four. She's peed on me four times during a diaper change."

Without needing to sell her point further, Regina turned and swept from the room with as much grace as a eight month pregnant woman may while holding an infant, a diaper, and a clean shirt. Eva was nearly old enough to start potty training, but Mary- Margaret was still hesitant, not wanting to get her started too early in case she wasn't ready.

In the bathroom, Regina laid Eva down on the counter, talking to her the whole time.

"Did you have a good day, Eva dear?"

"Yes!"

"What did you do?"

"Drawed."

Regina smiled at her grammar error and cued the girl into the proper use of the word, "What did you draw?"

"Flowers."

"That sounds lovely."

Regina finished with the diaper and she helped Eva back onto the floor, "What do you think, dear, can you change your shirt on your own or do you want Auntie Gina to do it?"

"I do it!" Eva exclaimed grabbing the shirt. She wiggled as she tried to pull her current one over her head, Regina helped her a little but mainly just kept a hand on the girls bottom in case she lost balance and tipped over.

Once she managed to wrestle her way out of her pink top, Regina's eyes caught on the scars adorning Eva's abdomen. They had faded since that day in the elevator, but they were still painfully clear, contrasting darkly against her pale skin. There was a scar on each of the girl's hips from Regina's thumb and pinky, a scar on each shoulder from Regina's pointer and ring fingers, and one just over the girl's heart from Regina's middle finger.

The mayor was snapped from her thoughts as Eva fought the new purple top down over her mess of curly brown hair.

She took Eva's hand to lead her from the bathroom, "Let's go show your Mommy that you changed yourself."

The young girl was in the stage where she wanted to do everything for herself. She hardly accepted help from anyone, but Regina was one of the few people she let assist. As a result, the mayor spent a lot of her free time braiding Eva's hair, and picking out outfits.

Much to Mary- Margaret's dismay, her daughter's favorite color was dark purple, and her favorite jacket was a miniature blazer Regina had jokingly bought for the girl's first birthday.

Once back in the kitchen, Eva ran as fast as her tiny legs could carry her (which wasn't very fast) over to Mary- Margaret.

"Mommy, up!" Eva commanded.

Obediently, Snow bent down and swept her up onto a hip, "That's a pretty shirt, Eva bear, did you put it on all on your own?"

"I do it."

"Yes you did! Good job, sweetie."

Regina watched from the doorway where she was soon joined by Emma. The blonde slipped her arms around Regina from behind and dropped her chin onto her wife's shoulder.

"Do you think our kid's going to be that cute?" Regina asked.

"Our kid is going to be even cuter, mainly because it's going to have a chance at being anything aside from ghostly white."

The brunette laughed, "Your family does tend to run on the pasty side." Emma kissed the side of her wife's neck when suddenly the mayor jumped in surprise, "She's kicking."

"Where?"

Regina took her wife's hand and guided it to the side of her stomach, pressing her palm flat against where she could faintly feel a thrumming from the baby's feet.

The journey to where they were now wasn't easy. It was nearly a full year before they were ready to even consider trying again. But they made it through and their relationship was stronger than ever.

Regina in particular took the whole thing hard, it took her months to be able to not blame herself, though she still carries some of that guilt around with her. Emma helps, and with the blonde's unconditional love and acceptance, Regina finally felt ready to try again.

They got lucky when their first attempt took and Regina was once again expecting. The first trimester was especially hard, the couple being so very cautious as they truly understood now what was at stake. Now here they were, waiting out Regina's final month in tense anticipation.

"She's so strong." Emma breathed, completely in awe.

"Tell me about it, she's been dancing on my bladder for about a week now."

The two smiled widely at each other, and Emma kept her hand where it was, pressed warmly against her wife's stomach, "Our kid is going to be perfect."

* * *

"Nora, baby, don't put that in your mouth." Regina called from where she was sitting on the park bench, "Nora!"

"Eva, help her out." Mary- Margaret laughed.

The older girl took the plastic keys from her niece, and instead entertained the twelve month old with playing peek a boo. The girls happily sat on the blanket giggling with each other while their mothers watched on carefully.

"Has Nora taken her first steps yet?"

"She keeps getting so close. Yesterday she was standing holding onto the coffee table for about twenty minutes, but she never quite took the step." Regina smiled, watching her girl play with Eva.

Since the weather had finally warmed up, the Charming- Mills clan was taking frequent excursions to the park so the kids could play outside. Today, Regina and Mary- Margaret were sitting with the girls while Emma, Henry, and David were picking up lunch from Granny's.

"Has she been getting into everything? Eva just learned how to get into the cabinet where we keep her fruit snacks. Those childproof locks are useless once they get past two years old."

"I've never seen anything crawl as fast as Nora does. Between her and Emma, it's like I've got two infants at home."

The teacher laughed, "Come on, she can't be that bad."

Regina shook her head, telling her story as some people do with tales of epic wars or great adventures, "Yesterday she emptied the contents of half the bottom cupboards in the kitchen, I mean pots, pans, everything all on the floor. Then she got into my baking supplies, she was covered in flour by the time I found her."

"Wait, don't you keep the flour up on the counter?" Mary- Margaret asked, not following.

"Yes."

"So how did Nora reach it?"

Regina laughed at the younger woman's confusion, "I was talking about Emma! She wanted to make cookies for Henry's last day of school."

Mary- Margaret joined in the laughter as Emma, Henry, and David trekked across the park with take out bags from the diner. The two women moved from the bench onto the large picnic blanket with their daughters to help set up for lunch.

It was a tight squeeze, but they all managed to fit with Regina leaning on Emma, Henry stuck on a corner, Mary- Margaret and David pressed close, and Nora sitting in Eva's lap under Regina's close supervision.

David tried to capture Regina's attention by asking yet again about new riot gear for the sheriff's station, "The stuff we have now is from the seventies."

The mayor once again rebuked him, "What do you think is going to happen in Storybrooke, David? Besides, if there's a fire breathing dragon or another wraith, a bulletproof vest or plexiglass crowd control shield isn't going to be much help."

Emma was distracted, by dissecting her sandwich, removing the tomato and the onion, setting them aside carefully. She was just settling the top slice of bread back on when a piece of bacon fell out. She cast a quick sideways glance at Regina who seemed to be too busy setting their daughter up with her lunch to notice.

She plucked the bacon from where it fell beside her knee in the grass and was seconds away from popping it into her mouth when Regina's voice halted her movements with the bacon just centimeters from her lips, "Emma, baby, don't put that in your mouth."

The laugh that burst forth from Mary- Margaret was so loud and overpowering that Regina couldn't help but join in, realizing just how similar the admonishment was to on she had just given their baby. David and the blonde looked on in confusion.

"What's so funny?" Emma asked, wanting to be in on the joke.

"Don't worry about it, dear."

Emma grumbled, but moved on, tearing up the slices of tomato she had removed from her sandwich and feeding the small bits to Nora.

"Does that tomato have mayonnaise on it?" Regina asked skeptically.

"A bit, why?"

"Our daughter doesn't need to be eating saturated fat and oil like that."

Mary- Margaret rolled her eyes at the mayor's occasional controlling attitudes when it came to the girls, "Really Regina, a little mayo isn't going to kill anyone."

"Well I don't want to encourage the development of type two diabetes in my daughter, something you probably aren't familiar with as your strongest tie to the medical profession is kissing boo-boos on an elementary school playground."

Though the comment was a typical sassy one from Regina, it lacked the old bite that it once carried. And Mary- Margaret shook her head, laughing it off.

* * *

Emma was awoken by the feeling of fingers running up and down down her arm. She smiled as she regained consciousness and snuggled closer into the warm body she had fallen asleep spooning. She nuzzled her face into the soft skin at the base of Regina's neck and pressed a kiss there.

"Good morning, sleepy head." Regina laughed.

"Good morning, why are you awake before nine on a Sunday?"

Regina rolled over in her wife's arms and tangled their legs together, "I'm listening in case the smoke alarm goes off again this year."

"That was only once."

"I didn't know that pancake batter could smoke that much."

"Henry seemed to get it under control though."

The women laughed at the memory of two years ago when Henry and Nora nearly set the kitchen on fire.

"So what do you want to do today?" Emma asked, running her fingers over the skin exposed at Regina's hip under her top.

"Are we meeting David and Mary- Margaret for dinner?"

"Yeah, I think that she's expecting us at five."

"Well I suppose we could just relax with the kids until then, take Nora to the park." Regina suggested, "I think Henry's been wanting to take her on a day trip since he's gotten back."

"That would be nice." Emma smirked and pushed Regina's hip so the brunette was lying flat on her back, she wasted no time in following and swinging one leg over Regina to straddle her, "If Henry takes Nora, we can have the day to ourselves."

She winked suggestively before leaning down to capture her wife's lips playfully.

"You know that this is not a holiday generally associated with spending the day in bed." Regina laughed when Emma moved back slightly.

"Has that ever stopped us before?"

The brunette smacked her on the arm lightly, "You are worse than a horny teenager."

"You love it." Emma accused.

"That's not the point."

"Mhm." Emma began mapping Regina's neck with her lips, tracing all the way from her jawline down to her collar bone.

"Emma." The mayor warned, "The kids are likely to come in soon."

"Don't care." Emma replied shortly into the spot just below Regina's ear, coaxing a slight moan from her wife.

The brunette played into her wife's devious antics, threading her fingers through Emma's hair and tugging gently to bring their lips back together. She escalated the kiss, taking Emma by surprise by slipping her tongue dominantly past the blonde's lips.

It was only a short amount of time later- thankfully with no smoke alarms- before there was a light knocking on their bedroom door. Henry had learned the hard way not to just barge into his mothers' bedroom in the morning, or the evening, or the afternoon, or any time at all really.

With a huff, Emma dramatically rolled off her wife and threw an arm over her eyes in mock exasperation, "Come in!" she called, scooting up the bed into a sitting position, pulling Regina with her while Henry pushed through the door carrying a tray piled high. Nora sprinted out from around him and took a flying leap into the bed, landing on Regina's legs.

"Happy Mother's Day!" The six year old yelled happily.

"Thank you, Nora." Regina smiled, tickling Nora's stomach while the girl squirmed happily.

"We made you breakfast." Henry said, he waited until Nora scooted aside to lay the tray on his parents' laps. The boy had returned from college the weekend prior, he was in his second year, studying to get a degree in literature with a focus on creative writing. He wanted to be an author.

"Thank you two!" Emma pulled the boy in for a one armed hug and a kiss on the cheek, "You're the best kids."

"You're the best mothers." He replied, "So Nora and I will just go and let you two enjoy your breakfast. Are we going to Gram and Gramps later?"

Regina smirked, the past six years had been some of the best of her life, she and Mary- Margaret were getting on better than ever, yet she couldn't help but enjoy the small victories. Mary- Margaret being called 'Gram' was certainly one of those victories.

"Yeah, be ready by 4:30." Emma confirmed, already picking up a piece of bacon from the breakfast the kids had made.

"Ok, can I take Nora to the park?" Henry asked, needing to make good on the promise to buy his little sister an icecream.

"Sure."

"Drive carefully." Regina interjected, slapping her wife's hand away from where she had attempted to steal another piece of bacon, "And only one icecream each. I don't want you two spoiling your dinner."

Henry had to fight not to roll his eyes and claim he was old enough and mature enough for that not to be an issue. But he knew better by now, "Alright, let's go Nana-Banana." He called to his sister.

The girl giggled at her nickname before planting sloppy kisses on both her mothers' cheeks.

"I want a horse ride." She demanded as she stood on the end of the bed and looked imploringly at her brother.

Dutifully, he spun around and crouched down a bit so she could clamber onto his back. The girl was all tan skin and rich dark hair. She was the spitting image of Regina, and at 6 she had her brother wrapped completely around her little finger.

"All set?"

"Go!"

Henry held the girl securely before galloping from the bedroom, winking at his mothers and pulling the door shut behind him as he went.

"Our kids are perfect." Emma smiled.

Regina couldn't agree more. She thought through the last six years, knowing that they were the best of her life, and without warning, she leant forward and pressed a quick, yet fierce kiss to her wife's lips.

When she pulled away and settled in to eat her Mother's Day breakfast, Regina wore a wide smile, and Emma was still frozen in surprise from the kiss.

"What was that for?" She asked once she recovered.

"I'm just happy."

And now when Regina said that, she knew it had never been more true. She had gotten her happy ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drop a final comment and let me know what you thought. Special shout out to ShadowClub and jackisdoctortom for the comments that you left on the last chapter. Just thank you.


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